Freelance policy expert and researcher specialised in heritage, culture and the creative industries sector. 
She has worked extensively from local and regional to European level in the conception, implementation, reporting and evaluation of diverse policies, programmes and organisations. Cristina has also been lecturing, training and participating as speaker and moderator in various universities, public discussions, academic conferences and workshops across Europe, USA, Africa and Middle East.
She is interested in the strengthening of the role of culture and creativity in governance and development; the promotion of international cooperation and mobility; and the building of capacity, advocacy and entrepreneurship among professionals.

For 27 years, Cristina's work has been focusing on how cities and regions may make strategic use of culture, in varied ways:

-Strategic Planning: mapping, diagnosis and development of cultural and cross-sectorial strategies; 

-Urban Regeneration and Development: creative hubs, creative industries, cultural heritage; cultural routes/tourism;

-Governance: consultation and participatory processes; 

-Evaluation and monitoring: impact assessment, criteria and indicators;

-Localisation of SDGs (sustainable development goals/Agenda 2030)

-Events and Festivals: cultural management and leadership; programming; outreach and audience development

-European cooperation and internationalisation: partnerships; networking; mobility; cultural relations

Experience with European programmes, initiatives and projects: European Capitals of Culture; European Urban Initiative; Horizon Europe; Erasmus+, Creative Europe, Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe; Cultural Heritage in Action; Archipel.eu (outermost regions and overseas countries and territories); EU4Culture (Eastern Partnership)

As for URBACT, I was Member of External Assessment Panel for the URBACT IV Cooperation Programme Action Planning Networks Call in 2023.

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More than 20 years of experience in employment and local development strategies, research on the labour market and foresight of Vocational Education and Training (VET) needs.

I have provided support to local and regional authorities in the design and conduction of territorial cooperation processes and strategies for local development, employment, labour inclusion, social policies, youth policies, economic revitalization, VET needs analysis, urban planning or support to entrepreneurship among other topics. I have designed and applied participatory processes, engaging citizens and local agents.

Over the years I have participated as partner or coordinator in many European projects and initiatives (EQUAL I and II, Youth in Action, Equal Opportunities, Leonardo, Erasmus +, EaSI, URBACT) and I have managed projects co-financed by ERDF, ESF, EAFRD and EGF.

I have worked for two URBACT networks: UrbInclusion (Municipality of Barcelona) and Kairós (Municipality of Mula), providing support for management and knowledge transfer to their Urbact Local Groups (ULG).

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I have been working with European local governments for the last 20 years with a particular focus on energy and more recently community energy. I was lucky enough to qualify as a lead expert for Zero Carbon Cities within the previous Urbact programme and was introduced to the world of Integrated Action Plans and Urbact local groups. Although I had already been working for many years on participative planning it was great to enter this structured world of tools and cooperative experts where everyone is doing their best to help cities of all shapes and sizes progress in planning for better futures.

A renowned expert and practitioner expert in public/private innovation partnerships, Henrik Morgen initiated in 2015 the consortium now known as EIT Urban Mobility. After winning the 350 MEUR EU tender in 2018 he served as its Innovation Hub Director for Northern Europe until joining BABLE Smart Cities - Europe's leading facilitator for smart city solutions and a spin-out Germany's Fraunhofer Research Society.  Since April 2022, Henrik is BABLE's country Lead for the Nordics & Baltics and a Principal Advisor for Climate, Mobility and Urban Digitization. 

Henrik is a professional in technology-based project development for more than 25 years and has worked for and across both industry, academia, government, RTOs, and as an independent consultant. His special technical expertise in the transport, ICT, energy, climate- and clean-tech sectors.

He has large-scale project management experience from multiple business and urban transition projects and has performed numerous EU consultancy assignments for a wide range of public sector authorities and institutions from across Europe.

As an EU senior official, he helped launching the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) before being appointed COO for Europe's largest climate innovation partnership. After establishing EIT-Climate-KIC's pan-Nordic climate innovation hub, he was invited to lead the international partnerships of DTU – Technical University of Denmark.

Earlier in his career Henrik worked in government administration, industry, and tech companies. He has served in multiple supervisory boards and as elected councilor for the City of Copenhagen.

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I have been a validated Lead Expert during URBACT III and I have been involved as Expert in very interesting projects all around Europe. During these years my committment as Expert in Urban Sustainable development for Municipalities has grown a lot and I have been working as project manager for the Swedish and Italian Governements and for several cities in Italy, Turin, Rome, Bologna, Forlì  and Verona in tight collaboration with Deputies and Mayors.

To became an Urbact Validated Expert for me means, influencing and inspiring the work of municipalities on issues of strong change that often need a less conservative push with a creative vision of real change and less politicisation on pressing European issues. As Urbact Expert I can bring my wide expertise in assisting Municipalities in this innovative big change. I have a double role as project manager but also as project evaluator expert because since 2021 I am and Evaluator Expert for the European Commission. Moreover my communication skills thanks to my collaborations at TV, radio and magazines and my work as adjunct professor for the University Tor Vergata In Rome in the Winter/Summer School for  Urban Sustanable Development and for Venice International University in the Master of EU Project Design & Management can be useful for an integrate work with cities.

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I am an experienced and motivated senior expert on the production of the built environment and on urban regeneration in general.

More specifically, my credentials comprise,

-  Extensive knowledge and deep understanding of the design, construction and social aspects of sustainable urban development,

- 40+ year experience in architectural, urban design, planning and

international development projects in most cases as a team leader or coordinator,

- 38 years after being awarded my doctorate status from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, based on my research titled ‘Environmental Information & Cognitive Needs’,

- 24 years academic experience in teaching architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and cultural heritage management both at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the Department of Planning & Regional Development of the University of Thessaly in Volos, Greece, having been elected and serving as the Head of the Department until September 2020,

- 24+ year experience in dealing with vulnerable social groups, and housing affordability, also serving for 13 years as the representative for Greece in the European Observatory of Homelessness organized for the European Commission by FEANTSA, paired with,

- recognised communication, organizational, multi-tasking and problem-solving skills, extensive networking capacity with EU as well as South-eastern European bodies.

It is needless to say that, after my retirement from academic work, I am thrilled to be among the URBACT experts, looking forward to be engaged in novel challenging assignments.

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First and most of all I am devoted to participative urban planning; this is how I work and how I support municipalities or civil organizations in these processes.For me, the essence of participatory planning is that we involve appropriate target groups; like residents, organizations, institutions, retailers in common thinking, in a creative, imaginative way, using the suitable participative and communication tools. Thanks to this, striking, meantime functional urban development strategies and solutions are created.To make the process successful by using the best tools, to make the voices and opinions of the affected groups heard, that is where I can show my true expertise. 

What does participatory planning, this democratic planning method, consist of anyway? To a bit of communication, we add a pinch of social perspective and then spice it up with some strategic management contribution.

I completed my university studies by combining these knowledges, and participatory planning   is an area where I need to skilfully apply all three elements for a given planning project to be successful. Currently I am supporting stakeholder’s involvement and communication as part of the planning of an eco-social farm operating in sustainable spirit in a rural settlement. I feel specially connected to this project because I do deem sustainability and climate-adaptive green space development a major thing and I consider myself a socially sensitive person at the same time.

I was involved with Urbact as an external expert in SURE network on the above topic, participatory planning.Summary of participative planning results and tools in the SURE project:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ki7ZwsW1YtWpy6vcBV-0SQ5cCKdAOc9g/view?usp=drive_link

Since my experience shows that new methods and techniques learned in the Urbact network bring practical benefits indeed to the participating cities, I would be happy to take part again in projects taking place within the framework of Urbact.

Ph.D. in Social and Psychological Sciences, Simone's efforts in recent years have focused on connecting local economic, social and administrative stakeholders in transnational networks, with the goal of creating sustainable tourism ecosystems.

Training and exchange meetings, including those organized online with the use of creative approaches and collaborative tools, can greatly facilitate the transfer of knowledge among all actors in local economies and the sharing of best practices. Participation in the Genoa ULG's activities for the URBACT III "Tourism-Friendly Cities" project, for example, enabled Simone to identify sustainability criteria later adopted for the area by the international short-rental platform Fairbnb.coop: dozens of tourism service SMEs gained direct access to the market in innovative ways that generate a positive impact for the whole territory.

Simone's expertise in the fields of digital transformation, green transition, circular economy, and sustainable tourism has been recognized by various chambers of commerce and local governments, within the framework of several European projects:
- Smart Tourism (Interreg - Marittimo-IT FR-Maritime)
- European Tourism Going Green - ETGG 2030
- I- STARS (Insuleur)

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Yuriy Vulkovsky has more than 25 years in culture and social innovation, both in Bulgaria and the EU, including vast experience in project management, capacity building, training and education, advocacy, applied research and need assessment, as well as building cooperation platforms with business and public authorities.

Most recently, Yuriy Vulkovsky was a Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria (Dec 2021 - August 2022) responsible for regional cultural development and the National Fund "Culture", among others.

As a member of the Strategy Group of the European Initiative “A Soul for Europe” (since 2006), he provided training on cultural impact management and advocacy work for cultural organisations from various countries in Central and Southeast Europe, as well as in Eastern Partnership countries. On a local level, he worked in close cooperation with national and local public authorities in the development of grant-making programs for cultural NGOs and micro-enterprises in the cultural field, including as a member of the Advisory Board of the Sofia Innovation Fund (2015-2017) and Deputy Chair of the Board of Sofia Municipality Fund of Culture and Creative Industries (2017-2019).

Since 2014 Vulkovsky also gains vast experience and expertise in the field of social entrepreneurship and social innovation as a founder of the first Bulgarian Incubator for early-stage social entrepreneurs as part of the international network of Reach for Change Foundation. Following his achievements in the fields of social innovation he was a selected member of the GECES (the EU Commission Expert Group on social economy and social enterprises) and he was a member of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) Policy Committee.

Since 2014 Vulkovsky is evaluating proposals submitted under the “Creative Europe” Program and "Europe for Citizens" Program (later CERV). Since 2022 he is evaluating proposals under the “Erasmus Plus” Program too.

He is Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow (2007) and Marshall Memorial Fellow (2011). As an acknowledgement of his work, he was selected as one of the 40 under 40 European Young Leaders in 2014.

Yuriy Vulkovsky is a validated senior expert (to support the implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds) by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (EU Commission) in the fields of:

13. Labour Market
   - 1.7 - Business incubators and micro-enterprises

28. Tourism and Culture
   - 1.7 - Culture

8. Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
   - 1.7 - Corporate Social Responsibility
   - 2.7 - Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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