Executive Board

Project Manager – Sebastian Puculek

Sebastian Puculek (male), is certified (IPMA) project manager, with experience gained in complex international projects in the field of Research & Development. He has many years of experience working on European markets, in particular Polish, Spanish and Nordic countries. In his career he coordinated both Horizon 2020 and commercial projects. In the past, he was also associated with the largest European Knowledge and Innovation Node of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology – EIT Climate-KIC, where he played the role of Business Development Lead for Central and Eastern European countries. As part of his duties, he assisted Polish innovative companies in obtaining financing for the CleanTech projects. Sebastian Puculek is WATERAGRI project manager.

WP1 leader – TUDelft – Zoran Kapelan

Prof. Zoran Kapelan (male) holds the Chair and leads the group on Urban Water Infrastructure in the Department of Water Management at Delft University of Technology. Prior to joining TU Delft he served as the Head of the Water and Environment Group at the University of Exeter in the UK. He is an IWA and CIWEM Fellow with 30 years of research and consulting experience in water engineering. His research interests cover a wide range of topics across the water cycle with a focus on the development of new hydroinformatics type technologies which includes methods for improved decision making. He has been or is an investigator on more than 50 EU, industrial and other projects with over €10 million funding received. Prof. Kapelan has developed several hydroinformatics type technologies that ended up being used by water companies and leading to major operational cost savings. He is currently serving as an Associate Editor for Water Resources Research and the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management (ASCE). He has (co)authored over 150 journal papers with an H-index of 46 (Google Scholar).

WP2 leader – Agricolus – Diego Guidotti 

Diego Guidotti (male), M.S. degree in agricultural sciences (University of Pisa) and PhD in  information and communication technology in agriculture (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa). His main expertise is in ICT development and webGIS technology, designing and testing tools applied to integrated pest management and decision support system in agriculture towards sustainable farming systems. In 2001, he founded Aedit srl, an academic spinoff company of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, which has, as its core business, the assistance of the public and private sectors in environmental matters, while dealing with sustainable agriculture. In 2017, he co-founded Agricolus, of which he is head of the R&D sector.

WP3 leader – FZJ – Harrie-Jan Fredricks – Franssen

Prof. Dr Harrie-Jan Hendricks-Franssen (male) is group leader for “Stochastic Analysis of Terrestrial Systems” at the Agrosphere Institute of the Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and full professor at the RWTH Aachen. He holds MSc degrees in soil science (Wageningen Agricultural University) and atmospheric and climate sciences (ETH Zurich). He obtained his PhD in hydrogeology at the Technical University of Valencia, Spain. His research interests include modelling of the water, energy and carbon cycles at the land surface and subsurface, model-data fusion methods like inverse modelling and data assimilation and statistical analysis of environmental measurement data. He is (co-)author of 97 ISI-listed publications and he has an H-index equal of 34 (ISI). He is speciality chief editor of the section “Hydrocomplexity” in the new journal “Frontiers in Water”. He is also editor for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, associate editor for Advances in Water Resources and editorial board member for the journal Water. He has been and is involved in many projects funded by the German Science Foundation, EU and other funding organizations. He is director of the competence centre High Performance Computing in Terrestrial Systems

WP4 leader – VTT – Mona Arnold

Mona Arnold (female), Tech Lic, MBA, is a Principal Scientist at VTT with responsibility for developing Circular economy concepts and sustainable clean technologies. She is especially experienced in water management issues and is a member of the steering group of the European Innovation Action Partnership EIP Water. She is also VTT representative in the European Technology platform for Water, Wsstp. At VTT, she is developing projects and competence in circular economy issues including water recycling and reuse. She has +15 scientific publications and 2 patents

WP5 leader– BOKU – Guenter Langergraber

Dr Guenter Langergraber (male) is a senior scientist at the Institute of Sanitary Engineering at BOKU (affiliated with BOKU since 1997) with a research background in natural water treatment systems, treatment wetlands and modelling. Dr Langergraber completed his PhD at BOKU in 2001 on the development of a simulation tool for treatment wetlands applied for wastewater treatment. He is a specialist in nature-based solutions with focus on treatment wetland technologies and experienced in co-ordinating EU-funded projects. Dr Langergraber was co-chair of the IWA Task Group on “Mainstreaming the Use of Treatment Wetlands” (2015-2019). Since 2019 he is the Head of the Department of Water, Atmosphere and Environment (WAU) at BOKU.

WP6 leader – OULU – Björn Klöve  

Prof. Bjørn Kløve (male) is a professor in water engineering (affiliated to OULU since 2002) with research background in hydrology, hydrogeology, water resources engineering, environmental engineering, land use and climate change studies, natural water treatment systems, treatment wetlands and modelling. Prof. Kløve completed his PhD at Lund university in 1997 on the “Environmental Impacts of Peat Mining: Development of storm water control methods” where he developed methods for water retention to reduce erosion, sediment and nutrient transport. The « pipe dam » method has been widely used in peat extraction and also in peatland forestry to retain water and control runoff peaks from land drainage. Prof. Kløve is globally a leading specialist on hydrology and water management, with a focus on peatland hydrological processes, water quality and numerical modelling to assess land use and climate change impacts. He has also worked with methods related to catchment and river restoration including nature-based solutions such as wetland technologies. He is an experienced project manager and coordinator of large projects. He has published more than 170 journal papers (H-index of 32). He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Hydrology Research published by IWA publishing.

WP7 leader – UNINE – Philip Brunner 

Prof. Dr Philip Brunner (male) leads the group on “Hydrogeological Processes” at the CHYN. The overarching aim of his research is to develop quantitative tools for the sustainable management of surface and subsurface water resources. Since January 2018, he is the director of the institute (40+ members). He has published 77 SCOPUS-index papers in the highest-ranking journals of hydrogeology and collaborates with world-renowned scientists in Australia, Canada, China and Switzerland. His current H-factor is 29 (google-scholar). His international recognition is reflected in numerous ways such as being an associate editor of the Journal of Hydrology, a leading journal in the field of hydrogeology. Philip was also on the Editorial Board of the Hydrogeology Journal from 2009 to 2012. In the past five years, he has received 13 grants from a range of funding agencies including 2020-ITN and the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is an adjunct Professor at Chang’an University in China and has been nominated as a foreign expert in Water Resources by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Education.

WP8 leader – INOSENS – Vladimir Mrkajic

Vladimir Mrkajic (male) holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Novi Sad (Serbia). Vladimir’s professional background includes academic research as well as civic and journalist activities. He has proven experience in disseminating and communicating the outcomes of environmental policy-related HORIZON EU projects as well as in engaging and empowering citizens, civil society organizations, and public authorities to work together. At InoSens, he holds the position of Head of Research and Development. His daily responsibilities usually include leading the InoSens team in:
– RESEARCH ACTIVITIES (market analysis & business planning, institutional and organizational (gap) analysis, stakeholder mapping),
– PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES (proposal writing, stakeholder engagement through pilot/demonstrating activities, project implementation, project reporting, identifying rising business opportunities, building long-term relationships with partners).
– DISSEMINATION AND COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES (dissemination& communication of project results via written and oral presentations; a company representative at B2B events)