Cell Biology (CNC) and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research of the
University of Coimbra (UC, Portugal). She holds a Ph.D. in Biological
Sciences, specializing in Ecology (2002, UC), and pursued her investigation
on biology and ecology of fungi to pinpoint the role of mycorrhizal symbiosis
for sustainability of Mediterranean forests under different land use scenarios at
the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), where she became an Associate
Researcher (from 2009to 2014). At CFE-UC, Marisa Azul developed a
holistic approach that combined innovation in food production with sustainable
development and public scientific awareness to multiple actors. At CNC,
from 2014 on, Marisa Azul focuses her investigation on basic research
and participatory research dynamics to pinpoint links between metabolism,
health/disease, and sustainability. She has broad academic experience as a
researcher working in participatory research and interdisciplinary that link
biomedical and life/environmental sciences, social sciences, science education, science communication, and artistic forms. Her research interests
also lie in bringing together the academy and social/economical players. She
has been successful in attracting national and international funding, coordinating
projects, and mentoring young researchers on the topics mentioned. She
has co-authoredover 40 scientific publications and book chapters, co-edited
4 books on Climate Change Management Series and 1 onWorld Sustainability
Series published by Springer, co-authored 4 books for children and 2 comics,
and co-produced 1 animation.
Luciana Brandli, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the University of Passo
Fundo, Brazil, working in the Ph.D. Program in Civil and Environment
Engineering. Her current research interests include sustainability in higher
education and green campus, management of urban infrastructure and sustainable
cities, and the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development. She supervises a
number of Master’s and Doctoral students on engineering and environment
and sustainability issues and has in excess of 300 publications, including
books, book chapters, and papers in refereed journals.
Pinar Gökçin Özuyar is a Faculty Member of Faculty of Economics,
Administrative and Social Sciences at Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey.
She received her B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering from Istanbul
Technical University in 1992 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Bogazici
University Institute of Environmental Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey. Her Ph.D. thesis was based on the “Thermodynamic Analysis of Treatment Plants for
Producing Energy from SolidWaste” which she conducted in Germany with a
joint scholarship from Forschungzentrum Jülich and TUBITAK (National
Science Foundation of Turkey).
Defining herself as a pracademic, she has more than 25 years of experience
not only in academia but also in the private sector working on environment and
sector-specific activities in Turkey and Dubai (UAE). She has extensive
expertise specifically in environmental auditing according to World Bank
Standards which is required for international financing especially during
company mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and greenfield projects. Working
over the years in projects involving different stakeholder groups with different
priorities, she has the proven capacity for establishing a dialogue between such
stakeholder groups. Although coming from a technical background, her academic
work focuses on involving sustainable development into the strategies
of corporations including higher academic institutions. Currently, she teaches
and leads funded research on sustainability/sustainable development especially
focusing on industrial ecology and regional development.