Francisco Gabriel Acién Fernández is professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Almeria, Director of Cathedra Cajamar on Bioeconomy and coordinator of H2020 EU Project SABANA focused to the Sustainable production of biofertilizers and aquafeed from wastewater using microalgae. Main research topics includes the reuse of crops residues and biotechnology of microalgae. Prof. Acién has participated in 12 European projects in addition to 30 National projects and contracts with companies. He is vice-president of European Algae Biomass Association (EABA), member of International Society for Applied Phycology, member of Latino American Society for Algal and Environmental Biotechnology, and editor of Algal Research and RELABIAA journals, in addition to reviewer of international journals. He also collaborates with international projects as DeserBioenergy in Chile and CONACYT in Mexico aimed to develop processes for the production of biofuels from microalgae in especial locations. Major contributions on Biotechnology of microalgae field are related with the improvement of photobioreactors design, scale-up of production systems, and economic analysis of production processes. In the last time research was focused to microalgae biomass valorisation to improve the economic yield of microalgae based processes.
Sara Badenes is a Chemical engineer from Instituto Superior Técnico of University of Lisbon, with a PhD in Biotechnology. Her previous roles at A4F included: Senior R&D Project Manager, where she was involved in several international R&D projects, and Business Development Officer, leading activities of DBOT (design, build, operate and transfer) of microalgae production facilities. Recently, she took the lead as Head of the Innovation Center of Algae for Future (A4F) R&D activities. Main research topics: production and processing of seaweeds and microalgae for many applications, such as food, feed, cosmetics, pharma, fertilizers, wastewater treatment, soil remediation, bioplastics, biofuels, and others.
After earning a MSc and a PhD, both in Industrial Biotechnology, from University of Milan-Bicocca (Milan, Italy) he moved to Lund, Sweden, in 2006, where he worked first as Marie Curie post doctoral researcher, then as senior researcher at the Department of Applied Microbiology of Lund University. Maurizio moved to Gothenburg, where he took a faculty position as Assistant professor at Chalmers University of Technology, in 2010. Maurizio is pro bono scientific and technical advisor of charity initiatives promoting the sustainable development in semi-arid areas in South America and Africa and he is the founder and President of the art Foundation dedicated to the Italian sculptress Lydia Silvestri.
Fabio Fracchetti is co-founder and COO at Microbion. He holds a Master Degree in “Agri-Industrial Biotechnology” and completed a PhD program in “Applied Biotechnology” with a specialization in “Enological and Viticultural Biotechnology” characterized by a strong connection with producers of selected microbial cultures. In 2010 he received the Master Degree in “Biotechnology law” focusing the attention on the juridical bases and case-studies about the patenting of selected microbial cultures. He put theoretical knowledge into practice both to write the first Microbion’s patent (WO 2018/015572) and to support other companies for patenting microorganisms.
Gerasimos Lyberatos is currently professor in the School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens and a collaborating faculty member of the Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes (Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas). He obtained his B.S. at M.I.T. and his M.S. and Ph.D. at CALTECH (USA). His research interests are in Biochemical Engineering and Environmental Technologies for liquid and solid waste treatment and valorization. He has over 200 publications in International refereed Journals, and over 300 participations in International Conferences, 9 Chapters in books and two books. He has supervised 40 PhD theses. He has organized two International Conferences. Prof. Lyberatos is Editor of the Journal of Hazardous Materials (Elsevier), Associate Editor of Waste and Biomass Valorization (Springer) and is also the Vice President of the Hellenic Water Association, the Greek governing member of IWA.
Claudio Mondini is a researcher in soil and environmental sciences at the Branch of Gorizia (Italy) of the Research Centre for Viticulture and Enology belonging to CREA (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics). His major expertise are in the area of sustainable recycling of organic residues, soil microbiology and assessment of soil fertility and quality. In the last years, he has specialized in the study of GHG emissions and C sequestration potential in soils treated with exogenous organic matter. He developed a version of the RothC soil C model specifically suited for amended soils. He is responsible for CREA of European projects dealing with the utilization of organic residues as soil amendments. He supervised several BSc and MSc students and has published over 200 papers and conference proceedings of which 70 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Luca Montanarella is Scientific Project Manager at the European Commission since 1992. He leads the Soil Data and Information Systems activities of the Joint Research Centre in support to the EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection and numerous other soil related policies, like the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the UNCCD, the UNFCCC, and the CBD. He is also responsible of the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), the European Soil Information System (EUSIS) and the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN). Since 2011, he is in charge of the establishment of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) at FAO. He also chaired the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) (2012-2018) and co-chaired the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment (2016-2018). Dr. Montanarella is currently project portfolio leader for the JRC work programme 2021-27 on Soil Health. He published >250 among peer reviewed articles, books and reports, and received numerous awards, including the Glinka World Soil Prize 2020. He is member of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of France, Doctor Honoris Causa at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Bulgaria and Member of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Slovakia.
Rattan Lal is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration at The Ohio State University, as well as an Adjunct Professor of University of Iceland and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), India. His research interests include soil carbon sequestration for food and climate security, conservation agriculture, soil health, soil erosion control, soil structure and carbon dynamics, eco-intensification of agroecosystems, soil restoration, and sustainable management of world soils. Prof. Lal is Editor-In-Chief of Advances in Soil Science and of the Encyclopaedia of Soil Sciences. He has authored/co-authored >1100 refereed journal articles, >550 book chapters, and >100 books. With >60,000 citations and an h-index of 113 (Scopus), he was included in the Thomson Reuters list of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (2014-2016). He is among Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers in Agriculture (2014-2020), as well as ranked #111 globally and #1 in Agriculture and Agronomy among the top 2% of scientists. He has received an Honoris Causa degree from 9 universities throughout Europe, USA and Asia; the Medal of Honor from UIMP, Spain (2018); and the Distinguished Service Medal of IUSS (2018). He was President of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (1987-1990), International Soil and Tillage Research Organization (1988-1991), Soil Science Society of America (2006-2008), and the International Union of Soil Sciences (2017-2018). He is Chair in Soil Science and Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainability Issues for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), and member of the 2021 UN Food Security Summit Science Committee and Action Track 3. Prof. Lal is laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize Certificate by the IPCC (2007), GCHERA World Agriculture Prize (2018), Glinka World Soil Prize (2018), Japan Prize (2019), U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Prize (2019), Arrell Global Food Innovation Award (2020), World Food Prize (2020), and Padma Shri Award (2021).
Mauro Majone is Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, and Head of the multidisciplinary Research Center for Protection of Environment and Cultural Heritage (CIABC).
His main research areas are: Environmental and Industrial biotechnologies for treatment and valorisation of waste and wastewater; biopolymer (PHA) production; remediation of polluted soils and groundwater.
He is author of >200 papers in international scientific journals with peer review, which received >7500 citations (H-Index=50). He is scientific coordinator of several research projects under public or private commitment, and participant into several FP7 and H2020 European Projects. Among them, Coordinator of the H2020 Project RES URBIS (GA 730349) “Resources from Urban BioWaste”.
