THE YEAR BOARD
President
Nicolaas van Strien
Nicolaas (Niels) is a Research Scientist in the Chemical and Polymer Synthesis team at VTT (Finland). He holds a BASc in Organic Chemistry and joined VTT in 2016. His current research focuses on utilising sugar diacids from waste streams to turn those into value added chemicals such as monomers for renewable plastics. He joined the Board in 2021.
Vice President
Salvatore Tedesco
Salvatore is a Senior Researcher – Team Leader at the Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. He joined Tyndall in 2012. His research interests are focused on wearable technologies for healthcare and well-being, human movement analysis in sports and clinical populations, motion sensors, signal processing, data analytics and machine learning. Salvatore joined the board in 2019.
Secretary General
Jennifer Carreiro
Jennifer is a Research Scientist in the Wind Power Technologies team at VTT (Finland). She holds a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Glasgow. Her current research focuses on aerodynamics of wind farms and the different environmental factors affecting turbines (icing, erosion). She joined the Board in 2021.
Treasurer
Anna Kozłowska
Anna is a Research Engineer in the Climate Resilient Pathways team at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. She holds a MSc in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics and BSc in Urban Development and Planning. Her current research focuses on working with urban data and carrying out spatial data analysis, for better understanding processes taking place in the urban spaces. She joined the Board in 2024.
External Relations
Nikalet Everson
Nikalet works in research at SINTEF Energy Research (Norway) in the Thermal Energy department focusing primarily on sustainable biofuel production by thermochemical techniques, such as pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction. She holds a BSc degree in Biochemistry and a MSc in Biotechnology, where her lab work focused on pharmacology via organic synthesis and recombination protein production in bacteria, respectively. She joined the Board in 2023.
Event Coordinator
Hajo den Ouden
Hajo is a researcher at TNO (The Netherlands) within the department of Naval and Offshore Structures, focusing primarily on ship vulnerability and holistic ship design methods. He holds a BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering and a MSc in Aerospace Engineering, with the specialization in Structures and Materials. He joined the Board in 2023.
Communications Manager – Website
Aria Mirzai
Aria serves as a researcher at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, focusing on ensuring the safety and cybersecurity of reliable and autonomous systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Automation and Mechatronics, as well as a MSc in High-Performance Computer Systems from Chalmers University of Technology. Aria joined the board in 2024.
Communications Manager – Social Media
Paulina Rodriguez Fiscal
Paulina holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture and MSc degree in Smart Cities and Communities. She is a researcher in the Smart Energy & Built Environment Unit at VITO (Belgium), mainly focused on neighbourhood & community driven decarbonisation projects and EU building policy implementation. She joined the board in 2023.
European Affairs
Medina Andresel
Medina is a Research Engineer in the Data Science and AI group at AIT. She has obtained a Ph.D. from Technical University of Vienna on the topic of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning. Her current research interests include applying Neuro-symbolic techniques to enhance reliability and transparency of AI systems. She joined the board in 2024.
Technology Manager
Mike Wilmer
Mike is a scientist integrator at TNO, The Hague. He has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology. He now works at the department of Data Science on the explainability of machine learning and cloud native technology. He joined the board in 2019.
Mobility Manager
Walter Messina
Walter is a researcher in applied Engineering in the Biophotonics group at the Tyndall National Institute in Cork. His research focuses on the application of photonics principles for the creation of novel medical devices. He holds a Biomedical Engineering Master’s degree from the Polytechnic of Turin and a PhD from the school of Chemistry at University College Cork (UCC). Joined the board in 2024
Board Member
Behrooz Sangchoolie
Behrooz is a researcher in the Dependable Transport Systems unit at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Chalmers University of Technology. His current research interests include dependability assessment of computer systems as well as safety and security interplay analysis using fault and attack injection. He joined the Board in 2019.