Sandra Valente is a senior research at ForestWISE COLAB. She holds a European Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering (UA, 2013) and MSc in Sociology: Local Policies and Decentralization (UC, 2008). As coordinator of the workline 4: ‘People and Policies’, she has been dedicated to research and knowledge transfer in the areas of social perceptions of forest and fire, stakeholder engagement and management, and public policies impact assessment. In the last 20 years, worked at CESAM – Centre for Environment and Marine Studies (UA), having participated in more than 20 European and national projects, published more than 20 articles in international journals and more than 100 papers in conferences and scientific events, in expertise areas linked to social perceptions of the environment and natural risks and public participation in the management of natural resources and forest management.

Dr. Hugh Safford is the Chief Scientist of Vibrant Planet, an environmental public benefits corporation, and a research ecologist at the University of California-Davis. Safford was Regional Ecologist for the USDA-Forest Service’s Region 5 (California, Hawaii, Pacific territories) between 2001 and 2021. Safford is director of the Sierra Nevada section of the California Fire Science Consortium, and he is PI of the California Prescribed Fire Monitoring Program (a partnership with CALFIRE) as well as the multi-partner Southern California Montane Forest Conservation Strategy. Safford has provided international technical assistance on fire, forest management, and climate change issues since the 1990s. Recent projects include fire risk mapping in the country of Georgia, fire management planning in Mexico, climate change adaptation in Brazil and Peru, and forest restoration and management in North Africa and the Middle East. Safford was a Fulbright Fellow between 2017 and 2019, where he studied post-fire ecosystem restoration practices in France, Portugal, and Spain. Safford co-edited the 2021 Postfire Restoration Framework for National Forests in California, which provides guidance for management decision-making in burned ecosystems under changing environmental baselines.

Scott Dehnisch is the Wildfire Unit Leader for USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the United States’ lead government agency for international disaster response. In this role, Scott coordinates BHA’s wildfire responses in support of the Bureau’s three geographic offices, the Office of Middle East, North Africa, and Europe; the Office of Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Office of Africa. He first came to USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) on temporary assignment in 2005 while in the middle of a 20-year career with the United States Forest Service's Fire and Aviation Management. In 2014, Scott swapped his domestic firefighting role for an international one, joining USAID/OFDA (now BHA) permanently through the Forest Service’s Disaster Assistance Support Program (DASP). Scott has coordinated and supported USAID wildfire responses to Indonesia, Israel, Paraguay, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil, among others. Scott also supports other BHA disaster responses as a Deputy Manager for Operations.

Nuno Banza, 48 years old, has a degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master in Spatial Planning and Impacts from the Faculty of Science and Technology, New University of Lisbon. He has a PhD in Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies from the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon. In the Inspectorate General of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning (IGAMAOT) he held the position of Sub-Inspector General between March 2013 and May 2014 and Inspector General between May 2014 and May 2019. He represented the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities in the Coordination Group of the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change and in the private sector, he was manager of environmental projects and consultant for several entities in the area of Environmental Impact Assessment. He is author and co-author of several publications in his area of expertise and regular contributor to some newspapers, having been coordinator of the Portuguese case study of the European Project "Participatory Spatial Planning in Europe - PSPE". He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests, I.P. since May 2019. In this capacity, he ensures the senior management of the Management of Rural Fires at ICNF, assisted by the Board of Directors, which also includes a member responsible for the area, on which the services depend functionally.