About the Project

Tomáš Goga is a geographer and researcher. His primary expertise lies in remote sensing and geospatial data analytics, with a strong emphasis on applications in agriculture, land use monitoring, and spatial pattern analysis. His work integrates satellite imagery, GIS methods, and quantitative models to support evidence-based approaches to landscape change, sustainable land management, and environmental assessment.

Ana is a forestry engineer spcielized in urban forestry. She is currently a professor at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Landscape Architecture. Her research focusses on urban forests ecosystem services and in the use of citizen science and visualizations to improve communication in urban green infrastructure management and planning.

Veronika Andrea is an assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources at Democritus University of Thrace. She teaches courses related to Forest Policy while her research interests focus on Forestry and Environmental Policy, Environmental Education, Sustainable Development, Protected Areas and decision making. Her research work consists of more than 60 publications in international journals, books, chapters in books, proceedings of international and national conferences. She has also participated in research projects funded by the European Union and national funds and is a reviewer in 5 scientific journals.

Bregt Roobroeck was trained as a bio-engineer in Land and Forest Management. His specialization is the management of urban forests. As a lecturer, he teaches Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and project management related to urban forestry. As a researcher, he has contributed to develop new types of evidence-based tree management plan for cities and how to use drone technology in arboriculture

Kieron Doick is Head of the Urban Forest Research Group (UFoRG) at Forest Research. UFoRG delivers scientific knowledge on UK urban forests: all the trees in and around the urban realm. Kieron’s research interests include urban forest resilience, urban tree valuation, and quantifying the role of urban forests in delivering ecosystem service benefits to society and valuing these services.

Dimitris Fotakis is a senior researcher specializing in spatial planning, forest resources management, and nature-based solutions. He combines over 20 years of experience in applied research and strategic project coordination. His expertise spans geoinformatics, agroforestry, and decision support systems for sustainable land and water management. He has successfully led interdisciplinary teams in major European programs, advancing innovation in biofertilizers, precision agriculture, and climate resilience. Internationally recognized for his scientific contributions, he actively supports policy development through research-based recommendations. He is dedicated to enhancing the role of forestry research in addressing societal challenges.

He works at the Division of Plant Material in the Department ofLandscape Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University as a permanent faculty member. He graduated from his BSc degree in Forest Engineering from Istanbul University in 2003, and completed both his MSc (2005) and PhD (2008) in Forest Engineering at Süleyman Demirel University. He served as a postdoctoral researcher at Michigan Technological University in the United States during the 2011–2012 academic year, and conducted a postdoctoral research in Germany at the University of Göttingen for three months in 2019. In addition to actively participating in multidisciplinary research in urban forestry, recreational landscape planning, and plant-environment interactions, his primary areas of expertise are forest botany, silviculture, soil science, and ecology. Several peer-reviewed papers published in prestigious journals are among his scholarly accomplishments.

Martina is an architect and researcher specialized in sustainable and inclusive urban transformation. She works at ETSAM-UPM on European projects addressing energy transition, climate resilience, and nature-based solutions. Her PhD focuses on socio-technical tools for Positive Energy Districts. She is part of the ABIO, TULE, and EELISA DISCOVERY research communities.

Graduate in Business Administration at the Universidad Iberoamericana of Mexico. With Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and in Environmental Policy from the Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain, developing for several years at the Foundation for Environmental Research and Development FIDA various environmental dissemination, education and research projects in the Community of Madrid, Consulting for the preparation and writing of LIFE Projects. Currently in the Arbocity Association developing national and international projects for the management, training and research in urban forests.

Dimitris Athanassiadis is associate professor at the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU) in Umeå. For the past 3 years he has been working in a research topic that we call Urban Forestscapes. It examines the diverse meanings and values of forests in form of urban and peri-urban forests, parks and trees, and even multi-storey buildings in wood. Urban Forestscapes allows interdisciplinary perspectives from multiple actors to be lifted in sustainable urban development issues thus shaping Urban Forestscapes, both as a tool in the long term city planning and management but also as a key factor in bridging social, climate and environmental goals.

Sonila Papathimiu is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, Faculty of History and Philology, University of Tirana, Albania. Her main research interests include wetlands management, environmental issues, protected areas, climate change impacts and adaptations, as well as the use of GIS and remote sensing. She has participated in numerous national and international projects and has received various grants, including the prestigious Fulbright Research Scholarship funded by the U.S. Government. She is the Project Coordinator of the Jean Monnet Module ALPAsEU, funded by the European Commission, and is actively engaged in several other research initiatives.