Dr. Vanessa Galeano-Duque is a Research Associate at the Edinburgh Business School , Heriot-Watt University. She specializes in spatial analysis, urban development, and policy evaluation, integrating quantitative methods and AI applications. Collaborations with the World Bank, UCL, LSE, and Universidad de Antioquia Focus on inequality, infrastructure equity, and climate policy Research Interests Economic geography and spatial inequality AI-enhanced policy tools for climate negotiations Venture debt dynamics in tech ecosystems Urban segregation and infrastructure equity Interdisciplinary approaches to development Research Trends include urban accessibility, financial systems in innovation ecosystems, and data-driven health policy. Her work aligns with UN SDGs for sustainable cities and climate action. Scientific Awards include prestigious Colciencias (£160,000), Colfuturo (£50,000), and Universidad Católica del Norte scholarships. She has secured £58,000 in competitive grants for urban health equity and tech finance projects. Teaching spans microeconomics, development, and quantitative methods at Heriot-Watt, UCL, and Universidad de Antioquia, emphasizing student-centered learning and real-world applications.
Guido Cantelmo is an Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) within the Department of Technology, Management and Economics, specifically in the Division of Transport's Section for Transport Systems Modelling. His research leverages big data analytics and machine learning to address complex transportation challenges, with expertise spanning traffic flow modeling, demand estimation, shared mobility systems, and urban network optimization. He maintains active collaboration with international cities including Copenhagen, Munich, and Tel Aviv-Yafo for empirical validation of his models. His research integrates computational techniques such as Graph Neural Networks, meta-learning, and physics-informed AI with transportation theory. Primary domains include: Dynamic traffic assignment using real-time data sources Machine learning for imbalanced mobility datasets Emission impact modeling of urban fleets Behavioral analysis of shared mobility adoption Large-scale simulation calibration frameworks Publication analysis (2022-2025) reveals dominant themes: data-driven demand estimation (37% of recent works), machine learning metamodeling (27%), shared mobility optimization (20%), and urban policy impact studies (16%). Methodological innovations include transfer learning for sparse data and multi-city validation approaches. No scientific awards or student mentoring relationships are documented in available sources. Similarly, no information exists regarding research grants, laboratory affiliations, or educational background.
Professor Taha Hossein Rashidi is a leading expert in Transport Engineering at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), and a member of the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI). His work bridges disciplines like economics, statistics, urban design, and sustainability to advance smart-city solutions. Education : PhD, University of Illinois, Chicago (2011); MS Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology (2005); BS Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology (2003). His research focuses on travel behaviour analysis, activity-based travel demand modelling, integrated land use and transportation models, and autonomous driving technologies. He leads the rCITI Travel Behaviour Modelling Team, which includes 3 Post-docs, 7 PhD, and 3 MSc students. Recent work explores shared autonomous vehicles, social media data integration for transport models, and dynamic ride-sharing systems. His publications span topics like pedestrian demand modeling, residential relocation dynamics, and pandemic-related travel restrictions. Scientific Awards Fred Burggraf Award (TRB, 2008) Dwight Eisenhower Fellow (2008) ASCE Freeman Fellowship (2009) NSERC PDF Award (2012) Industrial RAND Fellowship (2012) Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence (2015, Team) Award for Engineering Education Engagement (2015, Team) Outstanding Paper (TRB Analytics Contest, 2017) He has secured over $1.2 million in research funding since 2007, including ARC DECRA and Linkage Grants. His teaching includes courses on geometric design, urban transport modeling, and transport econometrics.
Rui Yao is a Lecturer at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), affiliated with the College of Engineering (ENAC) and the Department of Civil Engineering. Additionally, he works as a Scientist in the Laboratory for Human-Oriented Mobility Eco-system (HOMES) within EPFL. His research focuses on large-scale equilibrium modeling in multi-modal transport systems, individual mobility choice modeling, and demand management strategies. Education: B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Direct-track Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology His research spans both theoretical and applied domains, including stochastic traffic equilibrium , multi-passenger ridesharing systems , perturbed utility models , and deep learning for choice analysis . He has contributed to advancements in data-driven route choice modeling , integrated equilibrium models for electrified logistics , and stable matching frameworks for mobility platforms . Rui Yao is affiliated with the Human-Oriented Mobility Eco-system (HOMES) lab at EPFL, which focuses on innovative transportation solutions. His work bridges theoretical modeling with real-world applications in smart mobility and transportation policy.
Dr. Kasun De Silva Wijayaratna is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), with over 14 years of combined industry and academic experience in transport engineering and research. His work focuses on practical applications across network modeling, traffic management, parking systems, and car-sharing solutions, making significant contributions to understanding transport network reliability and vulnerability. His educational background includes: PhD in Civil Engineering (Transport Modelling) from the University of New South Wales (2016) Bachelor of Engineering (Civil Engineering, Honours 1) from the University of New South Wales (2011) Bachelor of Commerce (Finance with Distinction) from the University of New South Wales (2011) Dr. Wijayaratna's research primarily investigates travel behavior under different information scenarios, with particular emphasis on shared spaces, personalized mobility solutions, and transport network reliability. His recent work demonstrates a strong focus on integrating AI and big data analytics into transport modeling, examining pandemic impacts on mobility patterns, and developing innovative approaches to shared road infrastructure. His publications reveal a consistent trajectory toward more sophisticated modeling techniques and increasingly complex real-world applications. His scientific achievements include the prestigious 2016 SIDRA Solutions Postgraduate Award as the most outstanding transport engineering researcher in Australia and New Zealand, along with multiple research funding successes totaling over $1.5 million from state and local government sources. He has secured significant grants through iMOVE CRC and Transport for NSW for projects examining shared spaces, transport system optimization, and road safety innovations. As an educator, Dr. Wijayaratna serves as subject coordinator for Roads and Transport Engineering and Traffic and Transportation courses at UTS. He has been recognized as an innovator in tertiary education for developing blended learning approaches that effectively engage contemporary student cohorts. His teaching philosophy integrates practical industry experience gained during his time at Cardno with academic rigor, creating a dynamic learning environment that prepares students for real-world transport engineering challenges.
Velibor Mačkić is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb, where he has been employed since 2009. He serves as President of the Economic Analytics module council at the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Study Program in Business Economics and has been a Special Advisor for the Economy and Chair of the Economic Council of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, since 2020. His academic career includes teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Behavioural Microeconomics, Microeconomics, Principles of Economics, Political Economy, and Political-Economic Analysis, as well as doctoral courses in Political Economy and Competitiveness Analysis. Mačkić's research focuses on political economy, behavioral economics, and competitiveness analysis of modern economies. His scholarly work examines political budget cycles, electoral clientelism, fiscal transparency, and labor market dynamics, particularly concerning pensioner reactivation. He has published extensively in international journals and has received the prestigious Marijan Hanžeković Foundation Award in 2013 for the best scientific paper. His recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on the intersection of politics and economics, with particular attention to Croatian and EU contexts. He has participated in research projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation, European Social Fund, and Ministry of Science, Education and Sports. As a reviewer, he contributes to journals including Contemporary Economic Policy, Croatian Operational Research Review, Economic Thought and Practice, and Public Sector Economics. Mačkić is also an external associate of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Zagreb, an alumni of the Academy for Political Development, and a member of the Management Board of the Miko Tripalo Center for Democracy and Law.
Professor Robyn Jamieson serves as Professor of Genomic Medicine and Head of the Specialty of Genomic Medicine at The University of Sydney's Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School. She is a member of The University of Sydney Nano Institute and maintains strong affiliations with the Save Sight Institute and Children's Medical Research Institute. Her clinical specialty is Genetic Medicine with a focus on pediatric ophthalmology and inherited eye disorders. Professor Jamieson's research program centers on genomic and functional studies aimed at understanding disease causation in genetic eye diseases, particularly those affecting the retina. Her work has resulted in several novel disease gene and variant identifications, new insights into disease mechanisms, and translation to diagnostic genomic testing for genetic eye diseases. She actively pursues applications in genome engineering and new vector technologies for developing therapies for blinding eye conditions. Her research spans themes of Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health; Neurosciences and Mental Health; and Healthy Ageing, employing approaches in Cellular/Molecular biology, Genetics, and Translational Research. Analysis of Professor Jamieson's recent publications reveals a strong focus on inherited retinal diseases, with significant work on gene identification (GUCY2D, PROM1, KCNV2, WNT7B), natural history studies, biomarker development, and therapeutic approaches. Her research increasingly incorporates advanced technologies including AAV capsid bioengineering, retinal organoids, and genome sequencing for improved diagnosis and treatment pathways. The work spans basic science through to clinical implementation and health economics. Professor Jamieson actively supervises research students including Nadya ANDHIKA (exploring genetic therapy approaches in inherited retinal dystrophy) and William YATES (working on inherited retinal disease natural history and gene therapies). She has secured substantial grant funding from NHMRC, Department of Health, and other sources for projects including 'Resolving genetic variant uncertainty in syndromic and non-syndromic retinitis pigmentosa,' 'DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTORECEPTOR CELL THERAPY TO TREAT BLINDNESS,' and 'ALPK1 dysfunction: revealing a novel pathogenic pathway in retinal diseases.'
Dr. Núria Badenes Plá is a Professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and a key contributor to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Her academic career spans over 25 years with a focus on Applied Economics, particularly in public economics, taxation, and microsimulation modeling. She has co-authored 41 journal articles, 18 collective works, 8 books, and directed 2 PhD theses. Research Interests: Dr. Badenes Plá's work examines how fiscal policies affect income distribution, with specific expertise in gender financial gaps, tax reform assessments, and microsimulation techniques like EUROMOD. Her research covers household economic behavior during crises, wealth taxation models, and the redistributive impacts of universal basic income. Key collaborations with José Manuel González Páramo and Borja Gambau Suelves 2024 thesis direction on microsimulation modeling at UNED 2011 thesis on altruistic behavior in negotiations at Complutense Scientific output includes 75 citations (H-index: 4) since 1994, with recent 2024-2023 articles analyzing tax reforms, pandemic economic impacts, and gender financial dynamics in Spain. She has contributed to policy debates on fiscal neutrality, local government reforms, and environmental taxation.
Esteban Garcia Miralles is an Economist at the Bank of Spain's Research Department and External Researcher at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Economics. His work bridges central banking research with academic economics, focusing on critical policy issues affecting European economies. His educational background includes a PhD in Economics from the University of Copenhagen, followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. This strong academic foundation supports his research in public finance and labor economics. Garcia Miralles' research interests center on the intersection of public policy and individual behavior, particularly regarding retirement decisions, taxation systems, household financial behavior, and health economics. His work often employs rigorous microeconometric methods to analyze how policy changes affect economic decisions across different demographic groups, with special attention to pension systems, inheritance taxation, and fiscal responses to economic shocks. His publication record shows a consistent focus on European fiscal policy challenges, with recent work examining post-pandemic inflation effects, energy crisis responses, and retirement behavior. The articles demonstrate methodological sophistication combining theoretical modeling with empirical analysis of large administrative datasets, particularly from Spanish tax records. Winner of the Alexandre Pedrós Prize for research on inheritance taxation Finalist for the AldE Young Researchers' Prize Regular contributor to high-impact economics journals including American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and Journal of Public Economics As a researcher at the Bank of Spain, Garcia Miralles contributes to the institution's analytical work on fiscal policy, including the development of microsimulation tools for policy evaluation. His collaborations span multiple European institutions, reflecting the transnational nature of contemporary fiscal challenges. His work frequently appears in policy discussions, with features in major Spanish media outlets including El País and El Mundo, demonstrating its relevance to current economic debates.
Dr. Anna Sobieraj-Żłobińska serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geodesy within the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Gdańsk University of Technology. Her academic work focuses on advanced geospatial technologies and their practical applications in critical infrastructure management. Her research spans LiDAR technology optimization , 3D spatial modeling , and disaster management systems . Key contributions include developing microsimulation frameworks for stadium evacuation planning, creating modified threat detection methods for historic structures, and pioneering down-sampling techniques for large geospatial datasets. Her work bridges theoretical geodesy with real-world safety applications in public infrastructure and cultural heritage preservation. Recent publications reveal a clear trajectory from foundational data processing methods (2019 OptD-MULTI optimization) toward increasingly applied research, culminating in the 2025 stadium evacuation modeling study. Her work consistently addresses big data challenges in geospatial contexts while maintaining focus on practical safety outcomes for public spaces and historic structures. No scientific awards are documented in available sources. Her departmental involvement includes participation in the GINA project (Green Infrastructure in Urban Areas) through the Department of Geodesy, though she is not listed as project manager.
Julia Ingrid Sofia Hellstrand is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Social Data Science (CSDS) and Helsinki Institute for Demography and Population Health, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on demographic dynamics with emphasis on fertility trends, human capital investment, and economic sustainability in Nordic contexts. Her primary research interests include: Computational fertility forecasting and scenario modeling Drivers of fertility decline (educational attainment, economic uncertainty, partnership formation) Human capital-fertility interrelationships Nordic comparative demography Long-term socioeconomic implications of demographic change Dr. Hellstrand's recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate methodological evolution from descriptive cohort analysis to integrated computational frameworks. Her work now combines probabilistic forecasting of Finnish total fertility rate (TFR) with economic sustainability modeling, examining how educational pathways and partnership dynamics influence demographic trajectories. Key contributions include calibrated TFR projections to 2070 and analyses of how specific educational fields affect fertility decisions in Finland. She actively participates in the Academy of Finland-funded FLUX project (2024-2027), collaborating with international researchers from the Max Planck Institute and Nordic universities. Her methodological toolkit spans demographic decomposition, microsimulation, and machine learning applications for population forecasting. As a postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Hellstrand contributes to graduate training through research assistantships and co-supervision within the CSDS framework. Her work provides critical evidence for Nordic population policy debates, particularly regarding family formation support measures and long-term economic planning under low fertility conditions.
Consuelo R. Nava is Associate Professor of Economic Statistics at the University of Aosta Valley (University of Valle d'Aosta) in the Department of Economic and Political Sciences. She also serves as a visiting professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan and the University of Turin. Additionally, she is a member of the Cross-Border Center on Tourism and Mountain Economies. Dr. Nava earned her undergraduate degree (laurea triennale) in Business Economics from the University of Aosta Valley and Economics from the University of Turin, both with highest honors (110 e lode). She completed her PhD in Economics with a focus on applied mathematics and statistics at the University of Turin's Vilfredo Pareto Doctoral School in 2014. Following her doctorate, she worked as a research fellow at the Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis at the University of Turin (2014-2016) and as a research grant recipient with the Department of Translational Medicine at the University of Eastern Piedmont (2016-2017). Dr. Nava's research focuses on econometrics, time series analysis in the frequency domain, price indices, Bayesian inference, and discrete choice models. Her work bridges theoretical statistical methods with practical applications in economics, energy markets, tourism, and public health. She has developed innovative approaches to price index construction, switching behavior analysis in electricity markets, and Bayesian methods for modeling complex economic phenomena. Her publications demonstrate a strong interdisciplinary approach, with research spanning economic statistics, public health applications, tourism economics, and energy market analysis. Recent work shows an increasing focus on applying machine learning techniques alongside traditional econometric methods, particularly in analyzing startup survival during economic crises and modeling consumer behavior in liberalized markets. Dr. Nava has received several prestigious awards and recognitions: TEM Summer School Grant, Aosta, Italy Civil Society Talents Fellowship, Giovanni Goria Foundation, Asti, Italy Junior DESPINA Fellow, Big Data Lab, Turin, Italy Google Early Career Researchers Travel Grant, ISBA Socialis Prize, 7th edition, for her thesis on Corporate Social Responsibility Honor Student Scholarship, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Moncalieri, Italy As an educator, Dr. Nava has taught extensively across multiple institutions including Statistics, Quantitative Methods for Management, Econometrics, and Bayesian Statistics. She has served as a reviewer for several academic journals including Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Italian Journal of Applied Statistics, L'Industria, and Bayesian Analysis. Her research projects include studies on cruise ship impacts on destinations, illegal gambling analysis, switching behavior in European electricity markets, and Bayesian methods for analyzing asbestos exposure effects on mesothelioma risk. Her work with the Cross-Border Center on Tourism and Mountain Economies reflects her commitment to regional economic development research.
