Farming systems researcher, dedicated to contribute to a future proof agriculture and food system. Relevant experience with agroforestry systems and their contribution to ecosystem services. Will bring in the agronomic perspectives into this project.

Seerp combines a background in social sciences with a keen interest in all technical aspects of agriculture and management of natural resources. He has worked internationally (Asia, Africa) as researcher/advisor/facilitator for 25+ years in the field of sustainable agriculture, food systems and water management. Around five years ago, he moved his focus to Europe - the Netherlands in particular - seeking to contribute to what makes for responsible innovation and responsible scaling of options and opportunities in relation to agricultural and food system transformations to sustainability and what the notion of good stewardship of natural resources means in this.

Theo van der Sluis is a senior researcher at Wageningen Environmental Research, focusing on biodiversity and governance in international Natura 2000 projects. He led EU initiatives like the Biogeographical Process and E-BIND, and has worked across Europe and beyond on ecological networks and conservation. He has lived and worked in Africa and the Middle East, supporting national parks and community-based conservation. His PhD (2017) examined EU policy impacts on European landscapes.

Irene Bouwma is a senior researcher with a background in forestry and over 25 years of experience leading interdisciplinary projects. She has worked extensively for the European Commission, Dutch ministries, and the Environmental Assessment Agency on nature policy, particularly the Birds and Habitats Directives. Her research covers EU policy coherence, CAP implementation, and the reintroduction of landscape features. Since 2020, she has focused on how agro-food businesses can support biodiversity and green growth, building a strong network among policymakers and researchers in biodiversity policy.

Maureen Schoutsen's work experience includes sustainable agriculture, project management of research projects related to crop diversity (like agroforestry and strip cropping), business development, innovation processes, alternative financing and landscape development. She collaborates with colleagues in the Soil & Agroecological Field Crops Farming Systems team to test and optimize plant production systems, both on experimental and commercial farms, combining available knowledge in areas such as crop rotation, fertilization, tillage and control of diseases and pests.

Bartosz is an environmental economist. His research revolves around the topics related to design of agri-environmental policy, farmers' behaviour and the non-market valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. He is particularly interested in using agent-based modelling to understand the interactions between different policy and management objectives, including climate change adaptation and biodiversity protection.

Guy Pe'er is a conservation biologist and an expert on European policies - especially in the agricultural context. Guy is leading the working group "Agriculture and Ecosystems" within the department "Biodiversity and People" at UFZ and iDiv. Beyond project LAFERIA, he is involved in the EU projects Agroecology-TRANSECT and UNP+, and the German project CAP4GI.

Kaisa Västilä works as a Senior Research Scientist at Syke. Her expertise is on flow, sediment transport, nutrient processes and geomorphological development in ditches, streams and rivers, with a particular focus on the physico-chemical impacts of vegetation. She has designed, led, and conducted field, laboratory and modelling investigations in R&D projects on agricultural water management and nature-based solutions for river engineering. She has strong experience in co-developing water management solutions with stakeholders and experts from other fields.

Pasi is a geographer, Senior Research Scientist, and Group Leader at SYKE. His research focuses on nutrient loads from agriculture and methods to reduce them. He also works on nature-based solutions for water management in agriculture and forestry, as well as in-situ water quality measurements and their application in load assessments.

Jari is a research engineer and D.Sc. (Tech.) with over 25 years of experience in watershed-scale research, particularly in diffuse pollution of surface waters and related mitigation measures such as constructed wetlands, two-stage channels, and other nature-based solutions. He has conducted extensive flow and water quality modelling and monitoring using both manual sampling and automated, continuous measurement devices. His expertise lies especially in constructed wetlands for agro-environmental mitigation, which was the focus of his doctoral research.

Yanka Kazakova has a PhD in Agriculture Economics and Policy from the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia. She is a lecturer at the Department of Economics of Natural Resources at UNWE. Yanka’s interests are in agri-environmental economy, policy design and implementation with a focus on High Nature Value farmlands and farming in Natura 2000 areas. Yanka is one of the founders of the Society for Territorial and Environmental Prosperity (STEP), aiming to connect her research and teaching activities with the practical experience to promote and develop economic activities that are in harmony with our natural environment.

Vyara Stefanova holds an MBA from Sofia University and MSc from the Sofia Technical University and has more than 10-year experience (1998-2009) as a head of the Agri-environmental unit in the Ministry of Agriculture. Vyara is the chair of STEP’s Management board from January 2014. Her professional interests are in agri-environmental, eco-schemes and high-nature value farming practices. Currently, she is focused on pilot testing the potential of Result-based /Hybrid agri-environmental schemes in Bulgaria. She is also participating in field monitoring activities which provides her an up-todate overview of the challenges on both intensive and extensive agriculture land.

Floris Huyghe holds an MSc in Bio-science engineering: Forest and Nature Management and an MSc. in Urbanism and Spatial Planning. He recently started at EV-ILVO. His research, conducted at the Social Sciences department of EV-ILVO, focuses on economical drivers for more agroecological farming systems on different spatial scales.

Marlinde Koopmans is senior researcher specialized in the research area’s rural development, governance, and facilitating of knowledge exchange and co-innovation processes. Over the past five years she has been working in the field of Agroforestry and Functional Agrobiodiversity. Within LAFERIA she will coordinate the research on learning form experiences of reintroducing and maintaining landscape features.

Bilyana Avtova is a Communications Expert with a background in the environmental, cultural, and social sectors. She has been working at Pensoft Publishers on Horizon Europe projects related to biodiversity and agroforestry since 2024, and has been working in communications since 2023. 

Nikolay Mehandzhiyski is a senior communication expert with experience coordinating communication and dissemination activities in several Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects. In LAFERIA, Nikolay is leading WP5 Stakeholder engagement, co-creation, and social transformation tools.

Guy Pe'er is a conservation biologist and an expert on European policies - especially in the agricultural context. Guy is leading the working group "Agriculture and Ecosystems" within the department "Biodiversity and People" at UFZ and iDiv. Beyond project LAFERIA, he is involved in the EU projects Agroecology-TRANSECT and UNP+, and the German project CAP4GI.

Dr. Irina (Iryna) Herzon is a senior lecturer in agroecology at the University of Helsinki. Her interdisciplinary research and teaching address sustainability in food production by linking ecology with social processes. She engages in science-policy work at both national and EU levels, including for the Finnish Nature Panel. A member of the Teachers' Academy and co-founder of the Biodiversity Education Network in Finland, she also co-owns a high-nature-value beef farm, though her family follows a mostly vegetarian diet due to sustainability concerns.

Associate professor in agroecology at the department of agricultural sciences, university of Helsinki. Background in landscape ecology and environmental sciences, particularly interested in effects of agricultural land-use and land-use change on biodiversity, and associated consequences for ecosystem functions and ecosystem services.

Fanny Keränen is a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki with a background in environmental sciences. Her research focuses on enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services in agriculture in the context of the ongoing biodiversity and climate crises. As part of the LAFERIA project, she studies the ecological value of landscape features in agricultural environments.

Doctoral student at the School of Business, Innovation and Sustainability at Halmstad University in Sweden. The research is within innovation sciences and focuses on entrepreneurship, sustainability and business development that involves uncaptured value, sustainable business model innovation and the entrepreneurial mindset.

Pia Ulvenblad works as Associate professor in Business Administration at the School of Business, Innovation and Sustainability at Halmstad Unviersity. She leads the research program ProActS - 'Promoting resource efficiency, co-creative Actions and innovation for Sustainable transition' with about 50 researchers and acts as vice chair in WiTEC - European Association for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology. Her research interest focus on sustainable business models, circularity, safety work in the agricultural and forest industry and gender inclusion in STEM industries.

PhD in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Senior lecturer in Environmental Science Conducts research with emphasis on business managers’ incentives for adopting innovation processes to capture sustainability value connected to ecosystem services. Part of this research focuses on how facilitation of wetland construction can support business model innovation processes for sustainability. By developing business models that captures a broad range of sustainability value, the aim is to find win-win solutions between business interests and environmental measures which can lead to an optimised production of environmental benefits.

Henrik Barth is an Associate Professor in Innovation Sciences, focusing on innovation management and sustainable business model innovation. He leads several collaborative research projects and has over 4,200 hours of teaching experience in innovation and entrepreneurship at international universities. A recognized “Excellent Teaching Practitioner,” he previously served as Head of Department and Dean at Halmstad University. His research includes 30+ projects and 40 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Small Business Economics and Journal of Cleaner Production.

Christa Amnell works as a lecturer in Strategic Communication. She holds an MSc in Information Management with a specialization in Strategic Communication. She also has a background in pedagogy, holding a teaching degree, and has worked as a secondary school teacher. With extensive experience in research communication and public outreach, she has held roles as a Communications Officer in both academia and public administration, including leadership positions in research communication. Passionate about the intersection of communication and sustainability, Christa is dedicated to strengthening the role of strategic communication in advancing sustainable organizations and societal development.

Evelyn heads IEEP’s Biodiversity and Ecosystems team since June 2021, and has been a policy analyst in the team since 2012. Her areas of expertise include implementation of EU biodiversity policy, pollinator conservation, reducing impacts of pesticides on biodiversity through sustainable use, policies to reduce impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity. Evelyn led IEEP’s work on the evaluation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, on agricultural policy and management and Natura 2000 (including guidance, best practice case studies, and analysis of EU funding opportunities), and the evidence reviews of IEEP’s evaluation of the biodiversity impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Ha joined IEEP in August 2023 as a Communication Officer, having previously worked as a Social Media Specialist at a tech startup in Berlin for two years. She holds an MBA focusing on Sustainability Management from KU Leuven, graduating with distinction. Ha’s current role involves overseeing social media campaigns, promoting Think Sustainable Europe’s initiatives, and jointly managing communication activities and campaigns for Think2030 with her team.

Samantha has a background in Biology (BSc, MSc) and has worked as a communications expert for various universities as well as the private sector. As the Senior Communications Officer in the Agriculture and Food team at the European Environmental Bureau Sam covers topics related to food systems and agriculture.

Theo works for the Agriculture & Food Team with a focus on the Common Agricultural Policy. He is also part of another Horizon Europe Project: AgroEcology Partnership. He holds a Master of Science in Biotechnology from the University of Edinburgh and a Master of Science in Development and Rural Innovation from Wageningen University. Prior to joining the EEB, he worked on agricultural and renewable energy policy.

Anna graduated in Environmental Engineering from the University of Aveiro and holds a Master's in Civil Engineering, specializing in Hydraulics, Water Resources, and Environment, from the University of Coimbra. Since 2006, she has been the Director of the Department of Environment and Spatial Planning at EDIA. She coordinates activities and projects related to environmental monitoring, natural resource management, spatial planning, and environmental management. Her work in monitoring focuses particularly on surface water resources, biodiversity, and soils.

Fátima São Pedro is a senior technician at EDIA, S.A., a company responsible for designing, implementing, constructing, and managing the Alqueva Multi-Purpose Project (EFMA). Fátima holds a degree in Territorial Engineering and focuses on the identification, protection, and enhancement of natural and cultural resources, as well as the sustainable planning of land use and the preservation of ecological balance and landscape values.

Francisco Moreira (lead Coordinator) is a Senior Researcher at CIBIO-BIOPOLIS, where he coordinates the research group on biodiversity in agricultural and forest ecosystems. His main research interests include the relationship between agricultural management and biodiversity; fire ecology; ecological restoration; ecological connectivity;  impacts of anthropogenic infrastructures on biodiversity.

Angela Lomba (co-lead) is a Senior Researcher at CIBIO (Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources)-BIOPOLIS (Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning), University of Porto. With a background in biodiversity conservation and landscape ecology, her research focuses the impacts of social-ecological dynamics for biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes.

Marta Neto (project management officer (PMO) of the LAFERIA project) is a project manager at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO overseeing project submissions, as well as periodic reporting and evaluation procedures. With a background in environmental engineering and research focused on environmental microbiology.

Pedro Beja is Deputy Director and Senior Researcher at BIOPOLIS-CIBIO, specializing in biodiversity change in human-dominated landscapes. His research spans agricultural, forest, and freshwater systems, with a strong focus on applying conservation science. He has hands-on experience in species reintroduction, protected areas, land-use planning, impact assessment, ecological monitoring, and corporate biodiversity. He is also strongly interested in the development and application of environmental DNA technologies. Passionate about bridging science and practice, he has contributed to numerous conservation initiatives and is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed publications in leading international journals and edited books.