CONSORTIUM

Órlaith Ní Choncubhair is a Senior Research Officer in Teagasc, with responsibility for collaboration in EU and international R&I and research coordination projects. She was previously Consortium Manager of FACCE ERA-GAS, and has been actively engaged in several European projects and partnerships. She is a member of the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy and was previously a Policy Officer and Seconded National Expert in the European Commission. Órlaith holds a PhD in environmental science. She is the Coordinator of the RefreSCAR project, leading the Teagasc team in charge of WP1 and WP7.

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Bríd McClearn is a Research Officer in Teagasc with responsibility for the management of the RefreSCAR project. Bríd holds a degree in Agricultural Science from University College Dublin and a PhD from Queen’s University Belfast on the effect of sward type and cow genotype on the productivity and profitability of spring milk production systems. She has previously worked on three Horizon 2020 projects; EuroSheep (thematic network on sheep health and nutrition), Sm@rt (thematic network on technologies for small ruminants) and TechCare (Investigating PLF technologies to monitor and improve small ruminant welfare).

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Raymond Kelly is a Principal Research Officer and Head of Research Support in Teagasc. He is one of two Irish delegates to the SCAR Plenary and Steering Group and is actively engaged in several European projects and partnerships, including the Green ERA-Hub CSA, ICT-AGRI-FOOD ERA-NET Cofund and the Agroecology Partnership. Raymond also coordinates the Horizon 2020 funded project, ResearchLeaders2025. He is a Chair of the Governing Board of the Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare, represents the European Member States and Associated Countries on the International Bioeconomy Forum and is a member of the FACCE-JPI Governing Board. Raymond holds a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology. He is part of the RefreSCAR Project Management Team in Teagasc in charge of WP1 and WP7.

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Maeve Henchion is a Principal Research Officer and Head of Department in Teagasc.  She is also Adjunct Professor at the School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin. Her research interests span the supply chain and involve bringing a social/behavioural science dimension to multi- and inter-disciplinary research projects. She is currently particularly interested in innovation in the circular bioeconomy, sustainable food production and consumption, and food quality and integrity.

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José Matos is a Researcher at INIAV. Ph.D in Molecular Genetics (King’s College London, London University). Researcher in Plant Genetics and Plant Breeding. Portuguese Delegate at SCAR and previously a member of the SCAR AKIS WG. He has worked for the CASA CSA. He is a member of CE3C (Centre for ecology, evolution and environmental changes) in the Computational Biology and Population Genomics Group- CoBiG2. He is currently a member of the RefreSCAR project and also a member of the Agroecology Partnership.

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Carla Brites, a Senior Researcher in Food Science & Technology, specializes in developing appealing and healthy cereal-based products. With extensive research project management experience, she leads the TRACE-RICE PRIMA/H2020 project and contributes to the Agroecology and FutureFoodS European partnerships. Carla actively contributed for shaping research policy within H2020-SC2 and SCAR, and serves as an expert for Cluster 6 in Horizon Europe. Additionally, she acts as an R&I officer in the Innovation & Knowledge Exchange team of EIP-AGRI. In RefreSCAR, Carla co-leads Communication & Dissemination (WP2) and participates in Engage (WP3) and Align (WP4).

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Fernanda Simões is a Researcher in the Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Unit at INIAV, working in the area of ​​molecular biology applied to the characterization of genetic resources (agricultural crops, forest), plant breeding and forensic biology (species affiliation and identity). Responsible for managing the Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics Laboratory. Participates in several actions to publicize and disseminate research activities for the agricultural sector and general public.

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Paula Scotti Campos is Ph.D in Biology/Physiology and Biochemistry (FCUL) and responsible for Plant Physiology Laboratory in INIAV. She coordinates Ecophysiology research team in Oeiras, working with many different crops ranging from cereals and legumes to woody species, in field and controlled environmental conditions, through participation in national and international projects, contributing for studies in the context of adaptation to climate changes aiming at more sustainable agriculture. Her main scientific interests focus plant physiological responses to abiotic and biotic stresses, the role of membrane lipids and cellular integrity in stress resilience and the identification of tolerance and quality traits among wheat and rice germplasm under study in INIAV Cereal Breeding Programs.

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Pedro Reis PhD on Agronomic Engineering, from Lisbon University. Senior Researcher on INIAV (National Institute of Agrarian and Veterinary Research). The main research areas are: i) agricultural innovation system; ii) analysis of the Portuguese extensive systems (e.g. montado agro-forestry system and traditional olives groves); innovation and forestry landowners’ rationality. He was invited teacher on University of Lisbon, Agriculture School (Economy, Rural Sociology, Public Policies). Former Chair of the INIAV Scientific Council and former advisor of Governmental members. President of the Portuguese Association of Agrarian Economy.

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Sara Duarte Correia is a Biologist, Ph.D in Tourism, Ecosystem Services and Health, works as the current INIAV Communication Officer at the RefreSCAR project. With vast experience in project communication and dissemination she aims to contribute to the far reaching of SCAR mission and outcomes.

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Ana Alves is a IT Technician at INIAV, in the Department of Logistics and Information Systems.
She is a senior programmer, web designer and regularly does graphic design work, layouts and production materials (eg: logos; brochures; rollups; design of event programs, seminars, lectures, national and international meetings; creation of covers and content for various publications; newsletters, PowerPoint presentations...).

She created and manages the SCAR website.

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Prof. Mladen Radišić is a university professor in the area of Business and Finance, and he has the position of CEO at Foodscale Hub. Mladen has been holding various management positions and has participated in numerous EU-funded projects (CIP/COSME, FP7/H2020, etc.). He has previous experience in running large-scale projects and organization of international EU-funded business accelerator programs. These projects and programs have delivered more than 12 mEUR to more than 150 European SMEs and startups, covering sectors such as agrifood, ICT, manufacturing, logistics, health, finance, energy, and environment. His fields of interest are financial and small business management, international project management.

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Olivera Stojilović is a Project Manager at Foodscale Hub working in the domain of bioeconomy, capacity raising and ecosystem building. She has previous experience in various domains from science communication, training delivery, project coordination to research both in applied and basic science allowing her to work with both aquatic and land systems. Olivera has experience in running large-scale projects of international EU-funded origin focused on increasing R&I capabilities of food innovations and bio-based startup empowerment. 

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Marina Arnaut Stefanović is a Project Manager at Foodscale Hub with a strong background in molecular biology. Throughout a decade of professional experience, she has navigated through diverse domains of research and development, spanning from basic and applied research within public health institutions, industrial and pharmaceutical project management in R&D to initiatives fostering startup empowerment and NGOs, coupled with active participation in local and international EU projects.

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Johannes Bender studied agricultural sciences with a focus on animal nutrition. He is working as a programme manager at the department ‘European Research Affairs’ and deputy head of department. Since 2012, he is actively in different European initiativs. Within RefreSCAR he is together with his team responsible for the tasks on Foresight and Studies (WP5).

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Katerina Kotzia is working as a programme manager at the department ‘European Research Affairs’ at BLE in Bonn. She holds a diploma in Agricultural Sciences from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, Bonn, Germany. Since 2010, she has actively been involved in European Initiatives being responsible for different Work packages. Within RefreSCAR she is working for the task on Foresight and Studies (WP5).

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Nikki De Clercq is a research project officer at ILVO with a background in molecular biology and food safety. She is actively engaged in various European initiatives and partnerships in the area of sustainable agriculture, food, diet and health (e.g. HDHL, ERA-Net FOSC and AGROECOLOGY Partnership). Within the RefreSCAR project, she is mainly responsible for the management of the Portfolio Analysis upon request by the SCAR WGs (WP4).

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Hendrik De Ruyck is Scientific Expert/Research Group Leader Chemical Food Safety and Product Quality and Innovation and senior European project manager sustainable agriculture and food, and food and health. Hendrik belongs to ILVO, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Belgium. He coordinates international, national and regional (Flemish) funded research projects during 35 years at ILVO. He is Bio-Engineer and food technologist, and PhD in Applied Biological Sciences from Ghent University. He has an extensive European network and a great experience and expertise in mapping, communication and impact assessment in the management as workpackage and task leader in European network projects on sustainable agriculture and food; and food and health since 13 years.

Hendrik was and is actively involved in FP7, H2020 and HE projects as SUSFOOD1 & 2, ENPADASI, HDHL-INTIMIC, CSA HDHL, CSA HDHL2.0 and HDHL3.0, SusCrop, FOSC, Green ERA-Hub, RefreSCAR and the Partnerships ERA4Health, AGROECOLOGY and FutureFoodS.

Hendrik is member of the SCAR SWG Food Systems and represent Flanders in the Management Board of HDHL.

In RefreSCAR ILVO is responsible for WP4 SCAR-Align conducting portfolio analyses supporting the SCAR SWGs and CWGs and contribute in WP6 SCAR-Connect for R&I for policy impact and policy advice. 

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Anne Cobben-Bertani Lopes da Costa works as Advisor Agro and Food chains at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Besides the RefreSCAR project, she works closely with the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, research institutes and practitioners in a network to develop and execute policies for stimulating agroforestry in The Netherlands. Additionally, she provides policy advice on the broader transition of the agricultural sector. Before working at the government, she worked as an auditor and consultant visiting farmers across the world.   

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Saske Hoving works as National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe Cluster 6 at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). As NCP she supports entrepreneurs, knowledge institutes, universities and policymakers with the development of their innovation projects by organizing trainings and workshops, reviewing their Horizon Europe proposals and helping them to set up strategic partnerships. Next to that she support policy makers in the interaction with the European Commission with respect to Horizon Europe. She is also involved in several other Horizon Europe projects, like CARE4BIO, NCP4MISSIONS and SBEP.

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Mladen Radišić is a university professor in the area of Business and Finance, and he has the position of CEO at Foodscale Hub. Mladen has been holding various management positions and has participated in numerous EU-funded projects (CIP/COSME, FP7/H2020, etc.). He has previous experience in running large-scale projects and organization of international EU-funded business accelerator programs. These projects and programs have delivered more than 12 mEUR to more than 150 European SMEs and startups, covering sectors such as agrifood, ICT, manufacturing, logistics, health, finance, energy, and environment. His fields of interest are financial and small business management, international project management.

Dafinka Grozdanova is a researcher with ORCID 0000-0003-4945-8760, who graduated in a master's degree in Plant Health at the Agricultural University-Plovdiv. Her competencies, field of expertise and research areas are in plant health, food safety and food security, integrated pest management, bioeconomy, plant protection products, GMO, CBRN treats and critical infrastructure, and EU legislation and policies. Currently, she is a chairperson on the In-kind Contribution Committee of LifeWatch ERIC and a National delegate of Bulgaria in the General Assembly of LifeWatch ERIC.

Her present science project is her PhD work on the effectiveness of unmanned technology helping the ecological orientation of Bulgarian precision farming.

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Stefano Grando, with a background in economics and regional development, works as an external expert consultant for research policy and international collaboration at MASAF. His research and activity fields include rural development, rural sociology, food studies, agricultural and bioeconomy policy, foresight studies. He has been involved in several EU research projects, he has published articles on Italian and international magazines. He has worked in several research coordination actions in the agro-food domain and he is deputy national delegate at the SCAR.  In RefreSCAR, he will work at WP3 (SCAR-Engage) and WP5 (Foresight and Studies).    

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Dalila Frasson is a behavioural biologist, works as external collaborator of MASAF in different projects and partnership. She has been actively involved in numerous EU projects, driving efforts in wildlife protection, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development through both local and international collaborations. With extensive experience in project communication and dissemination, she will contribute on task on Engage (WP3) and Foresight and Studies (WP5).

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Vivi Hunnicke Nielsen is associate professor at Aarhus University working with EU-affairs. In RefreSCAR she is working with:

Work package WP4 – SCAR-Align

• Task 4.1: Assembly of experts & scope definition
• Task 4.3: Gap, overlap and trend analysis, and policy impact assessment

Work package WP5 – SCAR Foresight & Studies

• Task 5.1: Lessons learned from the previous Foresight Exercises (Task lead)
• Task 5.3: Support the FG in preparing for the 6th Foresight.

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Emmanuel Albina (DVM, PhD)  is a senior researcher specialized on animal virology. He is currently working for the CIRAD Directorate General - Science and Strategy, in charge of the partnership with the EU Research and Innovation.
He is the co-chair of the strategic working group ARCH "European agricultural research towards greater impacts on global challenges" of the Standing Committee of Agricultural Research (SCAR, https://scar-europe.org/arch-mission-and-aims).

He is contributing to Refrescar WP1, WP4, WP5 and WP6.

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Jean-Baptiste Cheneval, is an agronomist specialized on development economy, project management and networking. He's currently assistant to CIRAD Directorate General-Science and Strategy. As Head of advocacy and funding unit, he follows financial partnerships and coordinate positioning strategies for the establishment.

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Guy Richard is the Director of collective scientific assessment, advanced studies and foresight at the French National Research Institute for agriculture, food and environment (INRAE). Until April 2018, Guy was the Director of one of the 13 scientific divisions of INRA, the Agronomy and Environment Division with 40 research laboratories among France. He has developed research facilities for agroecology and international cooperation, particularly with China. He has managed the national INRA metaprogram on ecosystem services of agriculture and forestry from 2014 to 2018. He has a long experience in agriculture partnerships, especially with French technical institutes for agriculture. His scientific career was dedicated to soil quality as a function of cropping systems with more than 100 scientific papers in international journals. He was involved in the International Soil Tillage Research Organization. He is at the moment the president of the scientific committee of the AgroParisTech high school and the chairman of the board of Directors of QUAE Editions.

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Claire Meunier is an agricultural engineer by training. She joined INRAE in November 2021 as a research engineer, and after nearly 20 years spent in various agri-food companies. She was recently part of INRAE’s project team of the Foresight Report on “European pesticide-free agriculture in 2050” that was published in March 2023. She worked in particular on the analysis of public policies and also coordinated 4 case studies in 4 European regions to translate European scenarios into specific regions and sectors.

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Clémentine Lallier is Policy Officer for European & International Affairs directly to INRAE’s Director General for Scientific Expertise and Policy Support. After studying European Relations and working in Brussels in both the public and private sectors (European Commission and European industrial clusters) on EU policies such as energy and food, she joined INRA in 2014. As European Affairs Officer, she worked on European programming by supporting the development of collaborative research projects. Since the creation of INRAE in January 2020, she has been developing strategic partnerships with European and international organisations working at the interface between science and policy. .

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Abigail Muscat is a Coordinating Advisor in EU Research Collaborations. Abigail coordinates a team that takes part in initiatives that deepen that European Research Area, such as the European Partnerships, in food systems, agriculture, environment and the bioeconomy. She represents WR in work packages that support the SCAR engagement programme, support the 6th SCAR Foresight exercise and support connection the connection of SCAR to practice and policy initiatives. She also acts as an Organisational Contact Point for WR for conducting portfolio analyses and studies to support SCAR WGs.

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Guy Vancanneyt, PhD in Natural Sciences at the Free University in Berlin, Germany. He developed his research career in the Max Planck Institute of Cologne. Currently is a senior manager at INIA-CSIC. His main responsibility is as Deputy Director, being lead of the following areas: (i) The Technical Directorate for the Evaluation of Varieties and Laboratories (DTEVL); (ii) The Phytosanitary Products Unit (UPF); (iii) The Plant Genetic Resources Centre (CRF) and (iv) The Foresight and Coordination Unit.

In RefreSCAR, he has the responsibility of collaborating in all the relevant tasks assigned to our institution.

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Rocio Lansac, PhD in Agronomy at the University of Lincoln, NE, USA. She developed her research career in crop physiology. Currently is a senior manager at INIA-CSIC. Her main responsibility is as coordinator of International Scientific Relations at INIA since 2013. She represents the Ministry of Science and Innovation for Spain in the subgroup EU missions of the Strategic Configuration of the HE Programme Committee for the soil Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” and coordinates the Network of Agri-Food Institutions “System of INIAs of Ibero-America”.

In RefreSCAR, she has the responsibility of collaborating in all the relevant tasks assigned to our institution.

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Jesus Escudero, PhD in Plant Molecular Biology at the Basel University, Switzerland. He developed his research career in the Friedrich Miescher Institute of Basel. Currently is a senior manager at INIA-CSIC. His main area of focus is as Head of Relations with the European Union and National Contact Point for the Horizon Europe Programme - Cluster 6.

In RefreSCAR, he has the responsibility of being the PI and main contact for the institution.

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Johanna Logrén is a Senior Specialist with focus on international relations. In RefreSCAR she acts as the Organisational Contact Point in Luke supporting project implementation.

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Johanna Kohl is the Director of Luke’s Circular bioeconomy research programme and co-chair of SCAR Bioeconomy Strategic Working Group. She has worked also in the SCAR foresight expert panel and provides foresight expertise for RefreSCAR.

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Adam Wasilewski is a senior researcher in the Institute of Agriculture and Food Economics – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland. His research is currently focused on environmental aspects of agricultural and rural economics. He participated and still participates in many projects financed by the European Union, i.e. Boost4Bioeast, RIBES, BioEastsUp, COOPID, Tools4CAP, PERCEIVE, FARO EU.

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Szczepan Figiel is a professor of economics at the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics National Research Institute (IAFE INRE) in Warsaw, Poland. Recognized researcher, economic educator, and policy advisor with extensive experience in international cooperation and project administration and implementation. His research and professional interests include sustainable agricultural growth, economics of innovations, and agricultural policy analysis.

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Elizabeth Gavin (B.A., H. Dip. Applied Economics, H. Dip. Bioeconomy with Business) leads the team at NuaFund since March 2017. Elizabeth works on the strategic side of the business including on national and EU policy initiatives and on various funding applications with clients. On the national front, since setting up in business NuaFund has been requested to support a number of policy initiatives including the Circular Bioeconomy Outlook Study 2030-2050 in support of Climate Action, Sustainable Food and Bio-based Systems (co-author, May 2022), Collaborating on Climate: Bioeconomy & Sustainable Agriculture Research & Innovation across the UK and Ireland (co-author, March 2022). Elizabeth has previous spent 20 years working at various EU institutions in management positions.

Leo Guilfoyle holds a B.A., and M.P.A. from the University of Nottingham, UK and is PRINCE II qualified. Leo worked in Brussels for 13 years on E.U. research and innovation-focused initiatives across various policy domains such as education, space, environmental protection, transport, IoT, telecommunications, and I.C.T. Leo joined NuaFund in April 2023 and is a Senior Project Manager on a number of our EU projects.

Dolores Hannick holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Applications from Dublin City University, as well as an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Studies from the Portobello Institute in Dublin. Additionally, Dolores is PMP certified. With 30 years of experience, she has worked in a variety of global and Irish companies, primarily functioning as a Project Manager within the fields of telecoms, software, and banking. Her recent previous responsibilities have centred around compiling and analysing data for the provision of data packs and dashboards, specifically related to project KPIs for Leadership Teams.