Persons in order of appearance in photo gallery from top left to bottom right:
Veerle Van Eetvelde | President | Belgium
Veerle is associate professor in the Department of Geography research unit Landscape Research, Ghent University (Belgium). She is geographer and spatial planner and her research range from landscape ecology, landscape preference, historical geography, landscape and heritage management and planning. She is president of IALE-Europe since 2017. Besides she is vice president of UNISCAPE and in national and European projects related with landscape and cultural heritage.
Isabel Loupa-Ramos | Council representative | Portugal
Federica Larcher | Membership administration | Italy
Federica, Agronomist, phD, Associate Professor in Horticulture, Landscape and Urban ecology, Dept. of Agronomy, Forestry and Food Sciences, University of Torino. Her research interests are related to rural and urban landscapes. She moves from biocultural landscape research, to landscape planning, urban ecology, urban horticulture and green areas design. She is used to work in multidisciplinary teams and to involve stakeholders. More recently, she is involved in NBS and ecosystem services research projects. Since 2011, she is Councillor and now treasurer of SIEP–IALE – Italian Chapter of the International society for landscape ecology. She is also a member of the International Society for Horticultural sciences (ISHS WG on Ecosystem services). She has several international contacts and experiences (Scotland, France, Germany, Slovakia). She is associate editor of Landscape research T&F peer review UK journal since 2015 and Editor of Horticultural Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Prague since 2017.
'I'm a curious person and I like to share my experiences with students and other researchers, as well as to learn from them. I would like to give my contribution for a better European landscape, for the future and for my beloved boy!'
Simona R. Gradinaru | Secretary general | Switzerland
Simona is a researcher and lecturer at the Centre for Environmental Research and Impact Studies at University of Bucharest. Her research focuses in understanding urban and peri-urban land transformations from the planning and policy perspectives. She is actively involved in the Landscape planning Working group within IALE, particularly through organization of symposia dedicated to this topic. Over the years she has worked in interdisciplinary teams on conceptualizing planning as drive of landscape changes in various institutional contexts and at various scales. Since 2013, she holds the Secretary position within IALE-Romania, and since 2017 she has been Secretary General of IALE-Europe.
“My involvement in IALE-Europe is driven by the believe that it can provide a platform for early career researchers to share their experiences, receive feedback on their work, and learn new approaches and methods.”
José Muñoz-Rojas | Treasurer | Portugal
José is a Spanish/Iberian (thus EUropean) researcher and ass. professor at the University of Évora (Portugal/Iberia, also EUrope). José has an inter-disciplinary background in geography and spatial analysis, earth system sciences and land-use and landscape planning. The main objective of his research is on developing novel methods, models and ideas that can potentially contribute to tackling a wide range of environmental challenges around land use and landscape change, with a special focus on rural regions and communities. To do this he draws on concepts, paradigms and models from physical and environmental geography, earth system sciences, and landscape ecology, to design and test innovative planning, management and governance models and tools. José is currently a member of the editorial board of the Journal Landscape Ecology (Springer), having been a member of IALE-Europe for the past decade. Prior to embarking on tertiary education, José worked in farm management and surveying, international cooperation and agricultural and environmental analysis and assessment.
"Holding an interdisciplinary educational background and professional experience has rendered me naturally inclined to liaise with multiple scientific and professional organisations embracing the social sciences, and natural sciences, but also the humanities and engineering. Nonetheless, It is in IALE where, for a long time, I have felt more at ease. The inherently interdisciplinary and open-minded nature of Landscape Ecology , along with its focus on resolving complex (at times even wicked) real-world sustainability challenges has proven to be the rich environment where my interests in social-ecological processes and dynamics (with a spatial twist) could best flourish"
Morten Graversgaard | Denmark, Aarhus University
Morten is postdoc at the Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark. His research interests focus on governance of natural resources in agricultural and rural landscapes. Currently his research is focused on two broad research topics: 1) Investigating policy implementation and evaluation of agri-environmental measures. 2) Examining how historical data on landscapes and agricultural production activities shape todays landscapes. A main research agenda for Morten Graversgaard is to include the human dimension when studying landscapes and the solutions to the many environmental and climate related problems in rural areas. He is involved in European and global projects on transformation of agricultural landscapes. He has been a board member of the Danish IALE for many years and is looking forward to contribute to IALE-Europe as an early career researcher.
Werner Rolf | Communication Manager | Germany, Technical University of Munich
Since 2012, Werner is teaching and research associate at the Chair for Strategic Landscape Planning and Management at Technical University of Munich in Germany. His research interests focus on multifunctional, integrative landscape approaches, collaborative and participatory planning approaches and land-use scenarios, including analysis and modeling of complex spatial and functional interrelations using GIS. A current research focus is on green infrastructure planning. In many years of applied research he gained experience with collaborative and transformative research approaches in the field of sustainable land use management. He has international experience in rural and urban landscapes at different scales across Europe. Since 2017, he has been member of the IALE-Europe EC, besides being member of the board of IALE Germany. Furthermore, he is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed open access journal Landscape Online, published by IALE Germany.
“I am actively involved in IALE-Europe because I believe it is the most important European network to promote landscape ecology. It not only supports communication between different national IALE chapters but among all landscape ecologists across Europe.”
Çiğdem Coşkun Hepcan | Turkey, Ege University
Çiğdem, PhD, Professor in Dept. of Landscape Architecture, at Ege University in Turkiye. Her research interests focus on nature-based solutions, blue-green infrastructure, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, and vulnerability assessment in urban and rural landscapes. Over the years she is involved in interdisciplinary research teams on landscape changes, climate change adaptation and nature-based solutions. She is a member of IALE-Europe EC, an Executive Committee Member of Landscape Research Society (IALE-Turkey) besides being member of working group Ecocities in Society For Urban Ecology (SURE).
“My involvement in IALE-Europe is related to my admiration for nature and landscapes“
Beatriz Pierri Daunt | Spain, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Research Portal (not on photo (yet)):
As an elected early career representative, Beatriz enriches the perspective of our Executive Committee. She holds a PhD in Geography, a BSc and a MSc in Ecology. and is a post-doctoral researcher at the Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB) and an affiliated researcher at BCNUEJ lab. Beatriz's research focuses on understanding the role of policies in fostering landscape change and socioeconomic transformation, by analyzing the urban expansion process and modeling drivers of land change. Her ongoing project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and aims to assess the role of urban planning instruments in fostering the different patterns of urban expansion in Latin American and Caribbean metropolitan areas.