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For over 30 years I have been working as an urban practitioner, policy maker and facilitator at EU and local level.

I am fortunate to have worked directly with URBACT for 14 years now. I started out as Lead Expert of the Electric Vehicles in Urban Europe network, and from 2013 to 2023 have been Programme Expert. Over this period I have supported all three programme strands of transnational exchange and learning, capacity building and knowledge capitalisation. I have been in the design team of all URBACT Universities and City Festivals. As a member of the Capacity Building Task Force, I developed Guidance for Action Planning, supported studies on the integrated approach, pilot actions and co-produced new online training modules on Gender Responsive Public Procurement (GRPP). I led the Gender Equal Cities Knowledge Hub initiative, producing the first report and disseminating its powerful ideas across many platforms such as UN Habitat.

At EU level I am also an Expert for European Urban Initiative Capacity Building team conducting Peer Reviews. I have been the moderator for two editions of the European Commission Cities Forum.

I keep my feet on the ground working at local level in London on strategy design and project delivery. I managed the development of the London Borough of Lambeth Creative and Digital Industries Strategy, which incorporated review of workspace, cluster effects, activation of the public realm and strong focus on diversity and inclusion. I was expert for the Mayor of London’s Social Integration and Regeneration Lab and Network- a network of boroughs each with a specific place-based project to create buildings/ high streets/ open spaces that connect communities. I currently work with a multi-agency coalition to embed inclusion in the Life Sciences sector.

I have a strong belief in and commitment to the URBACT approach, having witnessed its positive impact. The URBACT method helps cities to develop better integrated policy, to channel resources towards well-conceived, evidence based and needs-led initiatives. The transnational exchange serves to connect people, ideas and knowledge in our common mission to drive sustainability at local level.

I look forward to supporting more city change-makers across the EU, in order to address the multiple challenges we face. Feel free to get in touch to explore new collaborations!

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Since 2020, I am working at Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband, Germany's largest water board, as Project Director of Emscherland, of the International Garden Exposition 2027 and of Emscher 2020. Professional experiences range from integral project coordination to the development of climate change adaptation strategies, the designing of public participation processes and the organization of (international) events. 

I am specialised in working on large scale green infrastructure programs, regional master planning and climate change adaptation in the city. As a lecturer at the Department of Spatial Planning, Technical University of Dortmund and at the Department of Geosciences, Ruhr University Bochum, I enjoy teaching a new generation of (international) city planners the possibilities of large scale green megaprojects. I further work as a counselor for international cooperations in both European and non-European countries with the focus on integral water management solutions and on transformative governance within public administration.

I hold a Master's Degree in Geography, French, Spanish and Portuguese and a PhD in Social Science. With more than 9 years experience in teaching at the university, I have a proven track record in research and development related to social inequalities, urban planning, strategic masterplan designing, public space and landscape creation across Germany and abroad.

My mission is to engage in a deeper dialogue with highly engaged program partners from different regions and countries in Europe in order to discuss sustainable solutions to city planning under the scope of climate change. I am fully devoted to capacity building and I love to bring together different cultures, perspectives and planning approaches within the overall process of project management.  

 

In love with European programmes. A firm believer in the power of policy and action creation through them, in the capacity of programmes to create bridges between different public and private entities and in the potential for personal and professional growth that working cooperatively between partners from different parts of the world has.

In addition to attracting and managing European programmes and funds, I am dedicated to finding ways to finance the public policies that we want to promote from the council, and to advise the business community of the municipality so that they can take advantage of the great opportunity that European funds represent.

I have also worked on the localisation and implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the municipality of Benetússer: carrying out phases 1, 2 and 3 for the Town Council; as well as in other projects such as the organisation of the European Mobility Week, the first steps for the promotion of a CEL, the application and management of the second PERTE call for the digitalisation of the water cycle, among others.

Previously I have been a teacher for over 12 years in an IB school, as well as coordinator of the English and Technology departments.

Education:
- Degree in Sociology.
- Master's Degree in Secondary School Teaching.

Soft skills: risk taker, communicator, open-minded, team player, caring, reflective, problem solver. I enjoy learning new things, contact with people and finding the social side of my daily work. I have always been driven by the idea of creating a better place to live, either through education or the study of society.
 

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I am a PhD.  Engineer with Doctorate in Engineering Sciences and Economist in Marketing and International Business with expertise in Project Management, Marketing, Business Plans and evaluation of National and European Projects.

Throughout my career, I have been actively involved as Evaluator and Rapporteur in collaborative projects within EU state-of-the-art initiatives such as FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, Education Programme and Citizenship for Europe-EACEA Agency Brussels, Eureka, Brussels, ICT, COST Programme.

I worked in 2019 with European Council as an Expert for creating the Branding Strategy for the Alpine Region. I am senior consultant for Engineering, Education Domain with experience of over 14 years. As a Lead Expert, I can bring knowledge and experience on topics of URBACT activities. I also have skills in network management, knowledge transfer activities, and facilitation.

I work professionally with computers, especially: MS DOS; WIN 9X, 2000, XP; MS OFFICE: Word, Excel, Access, Power, Point, Outlook; COREL; Internet and also most of the communication platforms - Skype, MS Teams, Webex, Google Meet, Zoom.

I have training courses:

2000 - EU Phare-Progress - Business Center Course - FP 5 – Polytechnic University of Bucharest

 2006- Communication Course organizes by Administration

2007- Participation to exhibitions in Italy, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, USA .

2007- Auditor for Management System ( SR EN ISO 19011:2003),(SR EN ISO 14001:2005), 14-18.05.2007 2007- Management of European projects, Bucharest, Commerce and Industry Chamber ,8-15.10.2007 2009-International Knowledge Management Course- 8-9.05 2009

2010- Audit for European Projects Computer skills Good computer skills – Word, Excel, Corel Draw, Autocad, Internet 1995- AUTOCAD Course to Dynatek Rom – America 1996- French Language Course carried on Polytechnic University in cooperation with National Institute from Grenoble and French Embassy

  2011-Training EACEA Brussels

2018-Training in Rome, ENI CBC MED Programme, Italy 2020

-Erasmus+, Malta 2021, 2022, Erasmus + Training Portugal

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The exchange of city practices and knowledge is fundamental to advancing sustainable urban development and inclusion in Europe. Strengthening city-to-city connections through networks is vital to increasing Europe's social and economic resilience and strengthening our cities.

I believe I can provide vital support for these exchange and knowledge-creation processes.  I bring 25 years of professional experience in housing, inclusion, urban governance, just transition and strategic urban planning gained in public and private sectors in over 30 cities in France, Serbia, Spain, the UK and Hungary, in support of 56 countries at the UN and 27 EU member states (EU Commission). I bring extensive experience in urban development practice, including action planning, research policy and foresight, and evaluation and impact assessment at the project, city, regional, national and international levels, as well as demonstrated success in advancing learning and promoting improved policy for EU institutions (eg. EC, EIB), EU programmes (eg. Urban Agenda for the EU, European Urban Initiative, Urban Innovative Actions.). As an executive-level university lecturer in France and the UK I bring practical tools and methods for integrated and participatory approaches and translating ambitions and strategies into action.

Most recently, I have been appointed a team leader of the New European Bauhaus Investment Guidelines expert team operationalising the NEB values for cities. Since 2016, I have been supporting the EU Urban Agenda as an expert for the establishment of the Cities of Equalities Partnership, advising the coordinators of the Partnership on Housing, and leading the assessment of the 14 EU Urban Agenda Partnerships contribution to the implementation of the UN New Urban Agenda and SDGs in Europe. I have also served as the expert for the Urban Innovative Actions and the European Urban Initiative, among other European and international initiatives focused on cities and concrete urban projects.  

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I'm a political scientist (double diploma Münster/Lille) with proven experience and passionate curiosity to design effective change processes in and with cities in Germany, Europe and worldwide.

For 15 years, I have been shaping national and international strategic cooperation and networks (i.e. with German Development Cooperation/giz,  the Bosch Foundation and Kokonsult), bringing people from different sectors into dialogue on sustainable urban and regional development. 

As a facilitator  I support learning and innovation (i.e. German- South-Caucasian Cities Network) with inspiring and co-creative methods (i.e. design thinking, liberating structures, barcamp) that fit the network and it's learning goals. I adeptly use online tools for workshop design and consistently experiment with new methods.

As a mediator and participation expert I create spaces for inclusive dialogue and assist cities in designing and delivering inclusive, accessible and target-group specific participation formats in person and online. I have particular expertise in guiding processes with high conflict potential. 

As a strategic advisor for urban development...

...I collaborate with cities to develop forward-thinking and creative business models with the aim to revitalize the city centre and find intermediate & adaptive reuse of vacant buildings. In doing so, we explore new pathways for vibrant and climate-friendly cities. One example https://ideenkino.de.

... I conduct sustainability assessments, develop and draft local sustainability strategies for municipalities. We reflect on what the slogan 'localizing the SDG' specifically means for German cities. https://skew.engagement-global.de/global-nachhaltige-kommune.html

... I assist cities to create a truly integrated and participatory process to reflect the impact of current trends for their city. Based on that, we develop strategic plans which tackle conflicts and use synergies i.e. in Heidelberg

As an organisational advisor and evaluator I help teams cooperate, set goals and develop plans to reach those goals. I evaluate international development projects all over the world (i.e. Tunesia, Morocco, Southest Europe, Subsahara Africa) according to OECD-DAC standards and facilitate learning loops.

Feel free to reach out to me if I can be helpful to you in any of these roles as an empathetic and creative sparring partner. I look forward to it!

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At Wageningen University I obtained the degree of Master of Science in Urban Strategic Planning in 2001. I am a curiosity-driven researcher. Why is the landscape put together the way it is, why are some regions downright fantastic and others one prefers to stay away from. The complex web of soil, water, atmosphere and especially man, is like a living organism. Pushing against it in the right places gets it moving. My knowledge of all those processes allows me to move it in the right direction. By knowing “how to read a landscape” I can help to write the next chapter for it. We need to be more careful if we want a healthy urban environment, as landscape too has a maximum loading capacity.
I am ready to help network partners build upon their baseline in pursuit of an integrated action plan, within the APN’s, Transfer Networks and Innovation Transfer Networks. And for ad-hoc missions to focus on the cross-cutting theme Green Transition.  

 

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I have been supporting EU local authorities for over 25 years, with a special focus on exchange & learning processes, cooperation and coordination of transnational projects to support socio-economic development, and on the design, implementation and evaluation of strategies, coordinating teams and stakeholders working on different fields, mostly around Cultural & Creative Industries, environmental issues and social and employment linked initiatives, through projects supported by programmes and funds within the EU Cohesion Policy.

I am particularly motivated when it comes to projects that involve local authorities, closer to citizens and able to implement policies and initiatives with shorter term impacts, and had the privilege to work in past URBACT projects (as Lead Expert for “Tropa Verde” TN or Thematic expert for “Creative Spirits” APN), and with URBACT Secretariat in the framework of the “Study on National URBACT POINTS - NUPs” (2021), and thus will be happy to remain as part of the URBACT family.

- Some previous experiences as Senior Consultant (since 1997):

 

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