Conference on Odour Management & Citizen Science | Speakers – October 20

• Associated to University of Exeter
• Honorific collaborator Universidad Compltense de Madrid
• Doctor Vinculado Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
• Contratado postdoctoral UNA4CARRER – Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Provisional)

Alejandro has been involved in light pollution issues since the mid-1990s and has contributed to over 100 articles, many related to light pollution. He is the leader of “Cities at Night,” a citizen-supported project coordinated with NASA and other space agencies that use ISS night imagery to raise light pollution awareness.  He earned his Ph.D. from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), with a thesis titled, “Spatial, Temporal and Spectral Variation of Light Pollution and its Sources: Methodology and Results.” He is currently doing his postdoc at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and serves as a light pollution advisor to  Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA)   newly created Office of Night Sky Quality.  He is an active member of several astronomy and light pollution-related organizations and research networks in Europe, including Cel Fosc (Spain’s association against light pollution) and Sociedad Española de Astronomía (SEA), Loss of the Night Network (LoNNe), and STARS4ALL. In 2014, Alejandro received an IDA Dark Sky Defender Award for his leadership role in “Cities at Night.”

Ms Caimanque holds an environmental engineer degree and a master’s in Environmental Sciences and Policy.  Specialized in regulating odours in the environment with more than 10 years of experience.  Currently she works as coordinator of public policy development for odour pollution, at the Chilean Ministry of Environment which the mission is to lead sustainable development, through the generation of efficient public policies and regulations, promoting good practices and improving citizen environmental education.

Sven Schade is a geospatial information scientist with a research interests cover digital transformation of governance, multi-disciplinary interoperability, and public participation in science for policy – always with a view to improve inclusive and sustainable transitions. He works as a scientific officer for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). Previously, he was employed by the European Environment Agency (EEA) as project manager for the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS). In his early career, Sven spent ten years with the Institute for Geoinformatics (IfGI) of the University of Muenster – where he completed his diploma and PhD studies

Dilek Fraisl is a Research Scholar at the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NoDES) Research Group of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). Dilek is the chair of the European Commission funded “WeObserve SDGs & Citizen Science Community of Practice” that aims to foster collaboration and consolidate knowledge on the contribution of citizen science to the UN SDGs across the global citizen science, data and statistics communities. Dilek is also leading the secretariat of the Global Citizen Science Partnership (GCSP), and a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (SDSN TReNDS).

Ms. Nora Salas Seoane, Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Master of Social Sciences in Anthropology. Social Sciences Researcher at Ibercivis Foundation and Social Researcher and Emotional Intelligence Officer at Science for Change. She has experience as a Psychologist in Clinical Psychology and social intervention projects facilitating group dynamics and community mobilization. She has worked as a Social Scientist coordinating social intervention and International Cooperation projects within Gender Studies, Migratory Movements & Interculturalism and Social Anthropology with communities across Europe and Africa. At the D-NOSES project, she has focused on the community engagement, participatory and co-creation strategies in the case studies plus its Gender Mainstreaming and Inclusiveness dimensions. Currently involved in conducting participatory qualitative research with women with endometriosis using participatory strategies and co-design methodologies in the TRANSFORM project as well as coaching in several citizen science initiatives in STEP CHANGE.

Ms. Rosa Arias, Chemical Engineer, Odour and Citizen Science expert, CEO and Founder of Science for Change, creator of the App OdourCollect (prize singular project #Prismas2021) and Coordinator of the D-NOSES project (Distributed Network for Odour Sensing, Empowerment and Sustainability), which has developed an innovative methodology to co-create alternative solutions to monitor odour pollution through citizen science and participatory strategies. She is also the Coordinator of the NEWSERA project – to co-design innovative communication strategies to reach quadruple helix stakeholders – and the Catalan cluster of the TRANSFORM project – to introduce citizen science into the Catalan S3 to boost innovation and evidence-based policies. She is an active member of the Spanish initiative “Science in the Parliament”, which has promoted the creation of a Science Office to inform the Spanish Parliament. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA).

Jose Miguel Rubio Iglesias (M. Eng. in Geodesy and Cartography, Polytechnic University of Madrid, 2006) is currently working as geospatial data management expert at the European Environment Agency (EEA). Since he took up his duties in 2017, he has been in charge of the geospatial data catalogue of the EEA, including its connection to the GEOSS portal. He is currently in charge of the GEO-related activities on data sharing and management with a focus on in-situ data. He is also member of the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) Coordination Team and also the contact point on Citizen Science for the agency, holding as well the position of co-chair of the Interest Group on Citizen Science of the Network of Environmental Protection Agencies.

Nuno Lacasta has been working on environment and sustainable development for over 20 years in Europe and in the United States. Since 2012 he’s been serving as CEO of APA – the Portuguese Environment Agency. He worked for academia and NGOs and as consultant for international organizations such as the OECD, the UN and the European Commission. Mr Lacasta has been in public service since 2003, having led the Portuguese Environment Ministry’s International Department, coordinated Portugal’s climate policy and directed the Portuguese Carbon Fund. In his capacity at APA he served as Bureau member of the EEA – European Environment Agency, and as OECD Environmental Policy Committee’s Chair. He holds a Law degree from Lisbon University Law School, a post-graduated degree (LLM) from the Washington College of Law/American University, as well as the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from Kellogg Business School/Católica Business School.

Anastasia Roniotes has over 29 years of experience in environmental policy formulation and advocacy at international, European and Mediterranean levels. At the core of her work as senior management of MIO-ECSDE (a Federation of 133 NGOs from 25 countries) is awareness raising on key environment and sustainable development issues, promoting public participation, stakeholder engagement and participatory science. Her involvement in the D-NOSES project offered her the unique opportunity to comprehend the complexities in effectively addressing odour pollution.

Cyntia Izquierdo Zamora holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and has more than 5 years of experience in environmental odour management. environment. Cyntia works as an environmental consultant in Ambiente et Odora S.L., she is co-editor of the website Olores.org and co-founder of the AMIGO Association and authorised representative of the Spanish Agency for Standardisation. She has been working as a volunteer for the AMIGO Association during the DNOSES project.

Ms. Julia Hereza Atienza is a civil and environmental engineer working at Directorate of Waste Management and Prevention Services of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona since 2017. Her main tasks are management support and participation in innovative projects related to waste management and financed by the European Commission as well as the analysis and representation of waste generation and management data by means of geographic information systems. Moreover, she is part of the technical group that is developing a standard for mapping odour episodes through citizen science, being the coordinator of the working group related to citizen participation.

Ms. Glòria Sànchez is a chemist working at Directorate of Waste Management and Prevention Services of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona since 2009. She completed a Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering in industry and is a Prevention Technician in the three specialties Hygiene, Safety and Ergonomics and Psychosocial. Among other things, it coordinates different European projects with the aim of improving the environment, finding value-added products and contributing to the development of the circular economy concept. She collaborates in the establishment of service 97 indicators and has at her charge the follow up of the yearly environmental and quality audit of the service processes. Furthermore, she is a member of the technical group which is developing a standard for mapping odour episodes through citizen science, leading the definition group.

Tom Okurut is a professional in fields of natural sciences, environment sciences and technology and climate change; He has applied and practiced his vast knowledge in science, environmental issues and climate change in development and management of natural resources in last 30years at international, regional, and national settings. He was until July 1st, 2021, the Executive Director of National Environment Management Authority of Uganda.

He is a natural science graduate from Makerere University and University Ibadan Nigeria and, Environmental Science and Technology Masters and Doctoral graduate from University of Wageningen/IHE Delft the Netherlands.

He was part of the team that championed the air quality agenda leading to the formulation and development of National Air Quality Regulations and guidelines in Uganda.