People

Annalisa Appice

University of Bari Aldo Moro

Annalisa Appice is a Full Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy. She received a Ph.D. in Computer Science in the University of Bari Aldo Moro. She was a visiting researcher at the University of Bristol (U.K.) and at the Jozef Stefan Institute (Slovenia). Her current research interests include data mining with event logs, spatio-temporal data and data streams with applications to remote sensing, process mining, and cybersecurity. On these topics she has published more than 180 papers in international journals and conferences. She was Program Co-Chair of ECML-PKDD 2015, ISMIS 2017, DS 2020 and ISMIS 2024, and Journal Track Chair of ECML-PKDD 2021. She participated in the organization (as co-chair) of several workshops on the topics machine learning and data mining. She was the responsible of research units in a regional project with topic on process mining and two national projects with topic on remote sensing. She is serving/has served in the program committee of several international/national conferences. She is a member of the editorial board of Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery (DAMI) and Journal of Intelligent Information Systems (JIIS). She is Associate Editor of Machine Learning Journal (MLJ) and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence (EAAI).

Ariane Kaploun

AXA Climate

Graduating from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Ariane started her career as a strategy consultant and worked for major financial services companies for 6 years. During these years she was struck by the pivotal role of finance in tackling climate change and biodiversity challenges. In 2021, she decided to join AXA Climate to adapt its risks expertise to the needs of Nature-based projects and trigger more financing into NbS. Today, Ariane is the entry point for private and public organizations looking to restore and protect Nature and create positive interactions between investors, developers and insurers. Ariane holds a BSc. in Mathematics from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France) and a master’s degree in business management and finance.

Bohdan Yailymov

Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Bohdan Yailymov is head of Information Technologies and Systems department in the Space Research Institute NAS Ukraine and SSA Ukraine. He received Ph.D. degree in Space Research Institute NAS Ukraine and SSA Ukraine in 2017 and since 2012 he works as researcher in this institution. His main areas of scientific researchers are information technologies, big data processing, remote sensing data processing, classification of satellite data, Agricultural Satellite Monitoring. He is participant of national and international projects from National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, National research foundation of Ukraine, Horizon 2020, and World Bank.

Daniel Gritzner

Leibniz University Hannover

Daniel Gritzner studied Mathematics and Computer Science, with a focus on the latter, at the University of Mannheim. He got his diploma and his B.Sc. in CS in 2014 and 2010 respectively. At the Institut für Informationsverarbeitung he is working on research at the intersection of computer vision and remote sensing, in particular the analysis of aerial and satellite images. His research interests are: Deep Learning, Transfer Learning, and Semantic Segmentation and Object Detection for Remote Sensing Applications.

Donato Malerba

University of Bari Aldo Moro

Donato Malerba has been a full professor of computer science at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Bari "Aldo Moro" since 2006. Prior to this, he served as an associate professor (1998-2006) and researcher (1991-1998). He held the position of Head of the Department of Computer Science from 2015 to 2022 and served as Director of the CINI National Lab on Big Data from 2014 to 2021. Additionally, he acted as the Coordinator of the PhD program in Computer Science from 2010 to 2015. Professor Malerba has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Big Data Value Association (BDVA) from 2015 to 2016 and a member of the Steering Board of the EU Public-Private Partnership (cPPP) Big Data. He leads the Knowledge Discovery and Data Engineering (KDDE) Lab at the Department of Computer Science. His research interests primarily focus on data science, encompassing machine learning, data mining, and big data analytics, along with their applications. He has coordinated the local units of several EU and National projects in this field. Currently, he serves as the scientific lead of the spoke 6 - Symbiotic AI - of the National project FAIR (Future Artificial Intelligence Research). With over 340 articles published in prestigious journals and conference proceedings, Professor Malerba has established himself as a prolific researcher. He has also held roles as PC co-chair and General Chair at several international conferences and has been involved in the editorial boards of several prominent journals in Machine Learning, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, as well as Artificial Intelligence.

Hanna Yailymova

Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Hanna Yailymova is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mathematical Modeling and Data Analysis in National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”. She received Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics in Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 2021. Since 2015 Hanna is a researcher in the Space Research Institute NASU-SSAU. Her main areas of scientific research are remote sensing data processing, classification of satellite data, and agricultural satellite monitoring. She is participant of national and international projects from National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, National research foundation of Ukraine, Horizon 2020, World Bank.

Juris Zariņš

Rigas Mezi

Juris Zariņš is the head of the SIA “Rīgas meži” forest management planning department with responsibility for the ecological landscape planning, preparation of forest management plans, as well as the development of the company's forest data management information system. At the same time, Juris Zariņš is a researcher at the Latvian Forest Research Institute "Silava", where the directions of research are related to national forest inventory, remote sensing, riparian forests. Recent co-authored publications related to project tasks are "Automated Delineation of Microstands in Hemiboreal Mixed Forests Using Stereo GeoEye-1 Data" and "Automatic tree species classification from Sentinel-2 images using deficient inventory data".

Laura Veinberga

Rigas Mezi

Laura Veinberga is environmental project manager in SIA “Rīgas meži” Forestry department. She obtained a bachelor's degree in geography and master's degree in project management at the University of Latvia, which have given her the passion to implement nature protection projects, as well as to perform the duties of a spatial planning, remote sensing and environmental expert.

Luiz Galizia

AXA Climate

Luiz is a Forest Engineer with a strong experience in wildfires, forest management and risk modelling. He has more than 6 years of professional experience in forestry in Brazil, Finland, Spain and Romania. Additionally, he has a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences at INRAE/AMU on the impacts of climate change on fire regimes. He has worked in projecting future wildfire risk based on spatial and temporal modelling that accounts for climate change, vegetation type and fire management factors. He joined AXA Climate in 2022 and his aim is to help in better understanding the wildfire risk and develop efficient strategies to manage the risk in the most exposed areas.

Nataliia Kussul

Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Prof. Nataliia Kussul is a Chair of the Department of Mathematical Modeling and Data Analysis in National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” and a leading scientist in Space Research Institute NASU-SSAU. She received Doctor of Sciences (second scientific degree) in Applied Mathematics from Space Research Institute NASU-NSAU in 2001, and Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from the Institute of Cybernetics of NASU in 1991. Her current research interests include Big Data in remote sensing, Machine Learning Techniques for Geospatial Data, Agricultural Satellite Monitoring. She is a Head of the UN-SPIDER RSO in Ukraine and a representative of Ukraine in EuroGEO High Level Working Group. She has been PI for numerous innovative international projects from EC-FP7, ESA, Horizon-2020, EC-JRC, CRDF, STCU and World Bank in the area of geospatial intelligence. In 2021 Nataliia won GEO Individual Excellence Award for outstanding personal contribution to the GEO activities.

Nicola Boffoli

University of Bari Aldo Moro

Nicola Boffoli earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Bari in 2006. Since 2011, he has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Bari, where he conducts research in the Computer Science Department. In 2004, Boffoli collaborated as a Research Student with the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (IESE) in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Boffoli has authored approximately 40 articles published in journals and conference proceedings. His primary research interests lie in software engineering, particularly in software architecture and design, with a focus on architectures for microservices. His work also covers maintenance, testing, data and process mining in modeling and coding software systems, and ensuring software quality. He actively participates in software engineering conferences and contributes to the academic community through various professional engagements. Furthermore, he is a member of the Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per l’Informatica (CINI).

Pasquale Ardimento

University of Bari Aldo Moro

Pasquale Ardimento gained a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Bari. In 2004, he collaborated as a Research Student with the Department of Engineering, University of Durham, U.K. Since 2005, he has been a Researcher with the Computer Science Department, University of Bari Aldo Moro. He has authored more than 70 articles published in journals and conference proceedings. His main research interests include software engineering and computational intelligence (maintenance, testing, data and process mining on modeling and coding software systems, software quality assurance, and computational intelligence). He serves both as a member of the program and organizing committees of conferences in the field of software engineering. He was involved in several national research projects and European projects and served as a Reviewer for many international and national conferences. He is a member of the Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per l’Informatica (CINI).

Quentin d’Huart

Timbtrack

Quentin d’Huart is the founder and CEO of IBR SA known under the brand “Timbtrack”, a hardware and software company active in the technologies surrounding the forestry sector. After some studies in the UK in Environmental Sciences (Bsc) and then learning Business Management in Belgium, he went on managing the production side of a start up in Africa (Zambia) in the Agro Food business. He came back in Belgium knowing that he wanted to carry on the entrepreneurial path and found space for improvement in the way forestry was managed at a private level. He decided to launch the Timbtrack project by creating a scanner to measure the trees. And then, a platform to retrieve the data, increase the understanding of the forest and manage it. Today, the activities of the company are known in various countries around the world and the team is working on different projects such as; traceability, forest protection, local market…, with platform, apps, satellites, etc. Today, IBR SA has won the support of the Region Wallone, has won 2 Seal of Excellences and thanks to the SWIFTT, is now part of this amazing project.

Quentin Voituron

AXA Climate

As a forest risk analyst at AXA Climate, Quentin is dedicated to leveraging scientific methodologies and advanced data analysis to craft tailored parametric coverage solutions for the forestry sector. His work extends beyond commercial forests, focusing on safeguarding and revitalizing non-commercial forest ecosystems. With a goal to make a positive impact on the environment, Quentin is committed to championing sustainable practices that enhance the resilience of forests. By leveraging insurance solutions, he aims to promote responsible land management, support reforestation, and contribute to biodiversity restoration, fostering healthier ecosystems. Quentin's expertise includes advanced proficiency in data analysis, remote sensing techniques, risk modeling, and forest management. He holds an MSc. in data science and a master's degree in Mechanical and Industrial engineering.

Sven Ysker

Leibniz University Hannover

Sven Ysker studied electrical engineering at Leibniz Universität Hannover with focus on Microelectronics. During this time he completed internships at the research departments of Volkswagen and IBM. In his diploma thesis, he implemented and adapted a predictive block-based motion estimation algorithm for use in the automotive environment. He received the academic title, Diplom-Ingenieur, in May 2011.

He is currently working towards a PhD degree at the Institut für Informationsverarbeitung (TNT) at Leibniz Universität Hannover. His main focus is on the field of deep learning and remote sensing, with a special interest in wildfire risk prediction.

Thibault Sorret

Wildsense

Thibault Sorret is the current CEO and co-founder of Wildsense. After completing a bachelor's degree in commerce at McGill University, Thibault became chief of staff at Lufa Farm, a Canadian urban agricultural scaleup that grew from 50 to 750 employees over the course of his employment. Following his masters degree at the University of Edinburgh in Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health, he founded Wildsense based on his thesis research on bark beetle attacks in forests and the increasing risk foresters face.