Umberto Pernice is senior project manager and senior advisor in collaborative innovation management with more than 25 years of international working experience in research and innovation projects in different interconnected areas including: disaster resilience, natural resources management, nature-based solutions and spatial applications. He is independent researcher in the field of environmental economics and geospatial information for ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction. He holds a PhD in Energy and Environment at Sapienza University of Rome, a Master in Business Administration (MBA) and a Degree in Economics and Business at University of Palermo. He has assisted more than 30 organizations including large enterprises, SMEs, universities, research institutes, governments and NGOs in Europe, the Middle East and the US. The latest ongoing European projects that he joined as a partner on nature-based solutions include H2020 REST-COAST and Horizon Europe REWRITE. He is proposal evaluator for the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission for his expertise on business model innovation. He has coached spin-off and start-up for scaling-up innovative products and services in the environmental monitoring and climate services.

Francesca Coccon is a researcher and project manager with a PhD in Environmental Science held at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. She is a birdlife expert with wide expertise in the coordination and implementation of wildlife monitoring, strike risk assessment, management of problematic wildlife species, conservation of biodiversity and Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). Her background also includes the management of databases and the statistical and geospatial analysis of data. She provides studies and consultancies in the field of wildlife strike risk assessment, management of problematic wildlife species and conservation of biodiversity.

Fabienne Horneman is a PhD candidate in Environmental Sciences at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Her research activities, in collaboration with the CMCC, are part of the Horizon2020 REST-COAST project, focusing on ecosystem restoration as part of climate adaptation strategies. These activities focus primarily on how to evaluate the effectiveness of nature-based solutions, and in particular saltmarsh restoration, in the Venice Lagoon. This evaluation involves the assessment of the impact of restoration on risk reduction through the provisioning and enhancement of regulating ecosystem services, including erosion and flood risk reduction, water quality purification, and carbon sequestration. In 2022, she graduated in Environmental Hazards and Risks Management at the Université Côte d’Azur (Nice, France) after writing her M.Sc. thesis in collaboration with the CMCC@Ca’Foscari as part of Risk Assessment and Adaptation Strategies Division at CMCC.

Caterina Dabalà is a Senior Project Manager with a PhD in Environmental Science and extensive experience in managing research and European environmental projects. At CORILA since 2000, she currently leads the H2020 Rest-Coast project, focusing on large-scale coastal ecosystem restoration aligned with the European Green Deal. From 2018 to 2022, she coordinated the EUR 10 million Venezia2021 program, which aimed to protect Venice and its lagoon, handling technical oversights, report review, result dissemination, and data management. Previously, from 2004 to 2019, she managed the environmental monitoring plan for MOSE construction sites, overseeing the technical and scientific aspects of the project. She also represents CORILA in the DANUBIUS-IP project, overseeing its preparatory phase and coordinating governance and planning for DANUBIUS-ERIC. Additionally, she is actively involved in various European and Interreg projects.

Silvia Torresan is co-director of the Risk Assessment and Adaptation Strategies Division (RAAS) based at CMCC@Ca’Foscari since 2015 where she supports the organization and management of the RAAS Division and coordinates multidisciplinary research groups working on environmental and multi-hazard risk assessment. Aligned with her Master of Science in Environmental Sciences (2007) and PhD in Science and Management of Climate Change at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (2012), her research activity focuses on the development and application of integrated tools and methodologies for the assessment of environmental impacts and risks related to climate change and natural hazards. Her doctoral and post-doctoral research was focused on the spatial-temporal analysis of climate change impacts, vulnerability and risk in coastal-marine areas, flood-prone river basins and freshwaters. She is also an expert of the EEA’s European Topic Centre on Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation for topics related to climate hazard indicators and ecosystem-based approaches for climate adaptation and DRR. She is author/co-author of more than 35 peer-reviewed publications in volumes and scientific journals, with Scopus H-index: 16, and G-Scholar H-index: 19, respectively.

Laura Puertolas is the director of Albirem Sustainability, strategic consultancy and research SME based in Barcelona. She has a PhD in Ecology and Environmental Sciences (UB) with Cum Laude mention, a MSc Fundamental and Applied Ecology (UB) and a BSc Environmental Sciences (UB). She is also Lecturer of Mediterranean Oceanography, Sustainability and Mediterranean Environment at IES Abroad Barcelona. She has 20 years of experience conducting research and working by the public and private sector on sustainability projects. Albirem is a partner organization of the H2020 REST-COAST project and partner or subcontractor in many other research and consultancy projects in the fields of NBS ES restoration, climate change resilience, bioeconomy, governance and public policies.  She has 20 years of experience in international research projects, strategic consulting and social innovation, leading more than 60 multistakeholder projects, with companies, public bodies, academia and third sector. She worked as Project Director in a strategic consulting firm, as a researcher in the FEHM group of the Department of Ecology of UB and in the public sector, as an advisor to the Catalan Water Agency.