Keynote Speakers

Diana Vieira - JRC European Comission - Italy

I am an Environmental Engineer with a special focus on soil health risks. I have dedicated most of my time monitoring burned areas and understanding the underlying key processes in fire-affected soils and landscapes to better adapt models to burned conditions. During my research path, I was PI of the FEMME project, supervised Ph.D. theses, postdoctoral and MSc fellowships, participated in national and EU projects, and organized international scientific events. Recently, in the European Commission I am dedicated to large-scale soil modeling, land degradation, healthy soils, and the assessment, fate, and remediation of pollution in EU. I have greatly contributed to the development of the recently adopted EU Directive for Soil Monitoring and Resilience. Moreover, I have dedicated time to knowledge transference, and I strongly believe that art and technology should go hand in hand. I am also a fervent advocate for equity and diversity.

Marco Turco - University of Murcia - Spain

Marco Turco is an Associate Professor at the University of Murcia (Spain) working on climate variability, extreme events, and wildfire risk in the Earth system. His research focuses on understanding how climate variability and anthropogenic climate change influence fire-prone landscapes, particularly in Mediterranean ecosystems. Using climate observations, reanalysis products and climate models, his work investigates the physical drivers of extreme fire weather, climate–fire relationships across temporal scales, and the predictability of wildfire risk from seasonal to decadal timescales. His research aims to improve the scientific basis for anticipating wildfire activity and supporting climate risk management in a changing climate.

Matt Jones - University of East Anglia - UK

I am a physical geographer studying how climate change is impacting extreme wildfire risk and the consequences for society and the environment. Through my research at UEA, leadership of the State of Wildfires Project, and contributions to the Global Carbon Project, I work to understand the drivers of extreme fires, improve assessment of their broader impacts, and identify ways to reduce future wildfire risk through climate action and land management.