Asger Christensen
- Member of the European Parliament, Venstre (Renew Europe)
| Asger Christensen is a farmer with his feet firmly planted in the Danish soil, which has yielded him vast experience and knowledge in the field. In his parliamentary work, Asger Christensen is dedicated to ensuring an ambitious and sensible green transition of the agricultural sector based on investments in green technology. In addition, he is very concerned with food safety, including the Farm to Fork strategy and consumer rights. He is a member of the Committee on Agricultural and Rural Development and a substitute in the Committee of Environment, Public Health and Food safety and the |
Pernille Weiss
- Member of the European Parliament, Det Konservative Folkeparti (European People’s Party)
| Ms. Weiss holds a seat in the Industry, Research & Energy Committee (ITRE) and is a substitute in The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Ms. Weiss also holds a substitute seat in The Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee (FEMM) Prior to being a MEP, Ms. Weiss served eight years as a County Council member. Ms. Weiss holds several degrees; she is a nurse (RN), Master of science (health) and additionally holds a master degree in Innovation and Leadership (LAICS). She is an acknowledged Nordic expert in architecture and health as well as the impact of the build environment on complex institutions. In addition, Ms. Weiss has since 2019 been a board member of SME Europe. Ms. Weiss has been head manager in the public health care sector and the building consultancy industry before establishing her own consultancy firm in 2008. |
Jorge Pinto Antunes
- Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Agriculture
| Jorge Pinto Antunes is a Member of Cabinet of Commissioner Wojciechowski (Agriculture) in the European Commission. He has broad and extensive experience in the European Commission, spanning the Environment Directorate-General - where he was responsible for accession negotiations and relations with International Financing Institutions - the Health Directorate General, where he led a team responsible for strategy and the Climate Action Directorate General. Until recently, he was part of the EU Team of Negotiators for the Climate Change Framework Convention. He has academic degrees in “International Relations” and “Environment and Development” from Minho University and Cambridge University. |
Uffe Jørgensen
- Centre Director CBIO, Senior researcher, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University
| Researches with focus on development and improvement of methods for the quantification of agricultural nutrient losses, on biomass resources for biorefinery, and on the protection of water quality and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by production of perennial biomass crops. |
James Gaffey
- Co-Director of the Bioeconomy Research Group and Principal Investigator at Shannon ABC in Institute of Technology Tralee
| James coordinates the Biorefinery Glas green biorefinery project, and is PI on several EU funded projects including BIOSWITCH, ICTBIOCHAIN and COOPID. He is academic collaborator at BiOrbic Bioeconomy Research Centre led by UCD, and lectures on biobased economy at postgraduate level through Institute of Technology Tralee. He is currently a member of the expert panel for the impact of assessment of Circular Biobased Europe under the upcoming Horizon Europe Programme. James has researched biorefinery processes for over 10 years, both privately and publicly. Before joining the Institute of Technology in Tralee in 2016, James Gaffey worked at the National University of Ireland in Galway. At Tralee he holds the positions of co-director of the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group and he fulfills the role as Principal Investigator in bioeconomy. |
Johan Sanders
- Professor Emeritus, Wageningen University
| Johan Sanders has a PhD in molecular biology. He has an extensive research track record during 25 years in the fermentation industry in a large agricultural cooperative as well. Since 2003 he held a position as Professor at Wageningen University and since 2014, Professor Emeritus. Johan Sanders continued his fields of exploration until now mainly related to biotechnology and biorefinery of plant components with applications as chemical building blocks, materials and feed proteins. Small scale of operation can have multiple advantages to fulfill environmental, social and economic boundary conditions. |
Silke Boger
- Head of Unit of Arable Crops and Olive oil in the Directorate-General for Agriculture
| Silke Boger holds a degree in Agricultural Economics from Humboldt University, Berlin. After some years in the German Ministry for Food and Agriculture, she started her career in the European Commission in 2005; first in Human Resources, and since 2016 as the Head of Unit of Arable Crops and Olive oil in the Directorate-General for Agriculture. |
Tomasz Calikowski
- Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Research and innovation
| Tomasz Calikowski is working for the European Commission since 2007. Currently, he holds a position as policy officer at Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, unit Circular Economy and Biobased Systems, where his main focus is bio-based innovation and sustainable biomass value chains. He studied at the University of Warsaw where he graduated in biology in 1995. |
Fabien Ramos
- Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Climate Action
| Fabien Ramos received a PhD degree in Geoscience from the University of Marne-la-Vallée (France) and joined the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in 2007 to work on agricultural policy support. Since 2015, he has worked in the Commission’s Directorate General for Climate Action on the development of the policy framework for climate action with a focus on agriculture, forestry and land use change. He has played an active role in the preparation of the long-term strategy for a climate-neutral EU and more recently in the 2030 climate target plan for the European Green Deal. |
Moderator: Niels Halberg
- Director of Danish Centre for Agriculture
| Niels Halberg is the director of DCA, the Danish Centre for Agriculture. He has over 25 years of experience in research and the modeling of farming and food systems and often works in cross-disciplinary settings. Niels has a track record of coordination of Danish and European research programs and oversees the contribution of Aarhus University’s policy advice to the Danish government within food and agriculture. Niels Halberg graduated from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, in Agronomy and holds a PhD degree in Ecological Economics. |
