Margarida Tomé is a Full Professor at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, and a member of the Forest Research Center, where she coordinates the ForChange research line (Forest ecosystem management under global change). She has extensive research experience in the areas of Natural Resouces Inventory, Forest Growth Modelling under a scenario of global changes, Forest management, assessment of non-wood forest products and ecosystem services. She coordinated and/or participated in several research projects (national and international). She has also been responsible for several technical projects, especially in the areas of forest inventory and forecasting the evolution of the Portuguese forest. She has more than 300 publications, of which around 40% are in international refereed journals. Since 2001, she has been co-editor of the Springer series “Managing Forest Ecosystems” (ISSN: 1568-1319) she was one of the Editors of the journal Forest Ecology and Management between 2019 and 2022. She is vice-president of the IUFRO task force “Sustainable Planted Forests for a Greener Future” and was coordinator of Division 4.0 of IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations) between 2005 and 2014. She is currently a member of the Board of the European Forest Institute since 2021 and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forest Institute (2000 – 2004) and President of the European Institute of Cultivated Forests (2002 – 2006). She is also a member of the National Council of the College of Forestry in the Order of Engineers.

J. San-Miguel-Ayanz works at the European Commission Joint Research Centre and is in charge of the development and operation of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) and the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS). He holds a PhD (1993) and a MSc (1989) Wildland Information Science, with majors on Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems, Forestry Department, by the University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California, U.S.A., and a Forest Engineering Degree (1987) by Polytechnic University, Madrid, Spain. Publication list available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/J_San-Miguel-Ayanz He is co-chair of the Expert Group on Forest Fires in the pan-European region (EGFF - 43 countries) and the Expert Group on Forest Fires of Latin America and the Caribbean (EGFF LAC). Additionally, he acts as co-chair of the Global Observation of Forest Cover Fire Implementation Team (GOFC Fire IT) and leads the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) GWIS activities.

Dr. Toddi Steelman is the Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. She is best known as a wildland fire expert and has brought her expertise to bear in a variety of venues including the Royal Society (UK), National Academy of Sciences (US) and as an invited keynote speaker in Canada, Germany, Australia and the United States. She a past-President of the International Association of Wildland Fire. Her research agenda has focused on understanding community responses to wildfire, wildland fire communication and how communities and agencies interact for more effective wildfire management on large, interjurisdictionally complex wildfires. The author of four books, Steelman has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, as well as opinion and editorial pieces in Nature, the Globe and Mail, The Hill and the Los Angeles Times.

Having more than 37 years’ experience, Etienne du Toit is a veteran of the South African Fire Service. Etienne joined the fire service in January 1986. He is currently the Head of the Western Cape Fire and Rescue Services for the Western Cape Government and serves as the competent authority and provide for the administration of the Fire Brigade Services Act and concomitant legislation. Etienne responded to major wildfires in the Western Cape and was responsible for the coordination of mutual aid and served as the nodal person national support. He has served on several advisory government bodies including the Western Cape Veld fire working group. Etienne have presented nationally on various wildfire related topics, including the emerging risks created by the proliferating Wildland Urban Interface. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Fire Technology. His writing has been published in several publications, including Fire and Rescue International. Etienne was involved in the GEF Fynbos fire project and co-authored several chapters in the GEF Fynbos Fire handbook. He was also instrumental in the roll out of the Western Cape Incident Command System (ICS) and have also assisted the USAID program with the roll out of basic ICS in both Namibia and Botswana.