Abílio Pereira Pacheco is Coordinating Researcher at the ForestWISE, Invited Assistant Professor at FEUP and Affiliated Researcher at INESC TEC, with a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management, his was a visiting student with the Engineering Systems Division at MIT. Has received 6 awards and/or honors. His main research area includes forest fires and application of mathematical models for it management and prevention.

Dr. Richard de Neufville is Professor of Engineering Systems in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is known for his textbooks on Systems Planning, Design, and Management which show how to combine technical expertise, economics, and management to obtain overall most productive results. He was the Founding Chairman of the MIT Technology and Policy Program, that prepares graduate students for leadership in the implementation of major technological projects. With the support of the MIT-Portugal Program, he has collaborated with Portuguese faculty, researchers, and industry over the past 20 years. Most significantly, for the Wildland Fire Conference, he worked with Dr. Tiago Oliveira and the Navigator wood and pulp company to describe the system dynamics between prevention and suppression of wildfires. The study documented how a focus on “fire-fighting” can, by neglecting suppression, create a vicious cycle that increases the intensity of wildfires. Dr. de Neufville served as a member of the President of Portugal’s Comissão Técnica Independente to review the causes and issues of the disastrous Pedrógão forest fires. For the following three years he chaired the Forest Fire Prevention and Mitigation committee allocating research grants for the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. He currently has a project with Prof. João Claro and Inesctec.

Antoine Bavandi is global Head of the Public Sector, Parametric & Climate Resilience Solutions practice at Gallagher Re. The practice helps manage the financial impact of climate and disaster risks on governments, (re)insurers, banks and businesses worldwide. Its focus is on promoting financial preparedness, de-risking strategies, and leveraging established and innovative risk management tools, including through bespoke parametric products. The practice provides comprehensive climate resilience and adaptation solutions, working alongside advanced and emerging economies to accelerate the shift towards a more sustainable development. Antoine previously worked with the Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance team at The World Bank, where he advised ministries of finance and central banks on designing and implementing disaster risk financing and insurance solutions through analytical work and policy dialogue. A catastrophe risk modeling and management expert, Antoine has also worked at Lloyd’s of London, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and the European Space Agency. He holds degrees from École Centrale, Imperial College and Stanford University.

Jeremy Russell-Smith has 40 years of experience researching savanna fire ecology, carbon market, ecosystem services, and associated livelihood opportunities for land managers and Indigenous (Aboriginal) communities in northern Australia and neighbouring countries. Over the past 20+ years he has been involved with ongoing development of Australian Government-regulated savanna burning greenhouse gas emissions abatement, and associated carbon sequestration, methods in northern Australia. In recent years he has been involved with the development of similar methodological approaches for application in fire-prone savannas in southern Africa, the Indo-Pacific and the Americas. He gained a PhD in 1986 from the Australian National University, Canberra. He holds the position of Professor of Fire Ecology at Charles Darwin University, Darwin.