Michiel Ritzen received his master’s in architecture, specialising in technology in sustainable design, from Delft University of Technology in 2004. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree on the environmental impact assessment of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) from Eindhoven University of Technology in 2017. Michiel is research activity leader and senior expert for circularity in the built environment in the unit Water and Energy Transition at the Flemish research organisation VITO. He is coordinator and expert in national and international research projects in energy and circularity transitions in the built environment.
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Carolina Montano Owen
Circularity Accelerator Programme Coordinator
World Green Building Council (WorldGBC)
Carolina Montano Owen promotes strategies to accelerate the transition to a sustainable built environment, by leading initiatives such as the Circular Buildings Coalition and the WorldGBC global circularity accelerator programme. She has a background in civil engineering and a doctorate from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. Carolina has supported the development of the technical screening criteria for the EU’s green taxonomy as a member of the WorldGBC team for the EU Platform on sustainable finance, as well as decarbonisation road maps as part of the #BuildingLife project.
Wayne is responsible for helping London’s boroughs to reduce waste and increase recycling rates, and accelerating the development of a low carbon circular economy by supporting circular businesses. He has been working for ReLondon since 2008. Prior to this he was the head of waste policy at the Greater London Authority. Wayne is a trustee on the board of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management and a trustee of the international development body, Waste Aid. He has over 25 years’ experience in the waste and resource management industry.
Jordi is driven by systemic transformation and the creation of a new economic model that delivers prosperity for people, society and the planet. He is convinced cities are the sweet spot to catalyse this transformation. He works with cities worldwide to help them understand the potential of the circular economy and integrate it into their ways of working and urban intervention plans.
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Alessia Santoro
Senior Associate, Built Environment
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Alessia has an Italian bachelor's degree in construction engineering and a master's in "cities and sustainability" from Aalborg University in Denmark. She has completed her curriculum internship at ICLEI in Mexico City and further started working for WBCSD in the Built Environment Pathway. Her specialty is studying how to apply the circular economy model in the built environment system. At the moment, she is co-leading the development of a framework to measure the circularity of buildings while collaborating with Global ABC, UNEP and the Circular Buildings Coalition.
Helene works for Arup’s foresight, strategy and insights team in Berlin. She is a structural engineer and sustainability manager by training. She uses her knowledge on structural engineering and corporate sustainability management to guide clients through sustainability challenges in the built environment. Prior to joining Arup, her work centered around systems thinking and material flow mapping. She is particularly knowledgeable in the circular economy, regenerative design and Arup’s Circular Buildings Toolkit. Previously she has worked on developing circular assessment frameworks for corporations.
Martin leads Arup’s foresight, strategy and innovation team based in Germany. He specialises in transitioning the built environment for a sustainable and decarbonised future. He has worked for over 12 years in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector, with a focus on making cities more innovative and liveable by advocating for evidence-based strategies to achieve a circular economy. As part of these objectives, Martin has developed Arup’s Circular Buildings Toolkit and other circular tools, indicators and methodologies to support innovation in the AEC sector.
Joana dos Santos Gonçalves is a researcher on circularity in the built environment at VITO in Belgium. She graduated as an architect from the School of Architecture of University of Minho, Portugal in 2014 and was awarded the Iberian Prize on Traditional Architecture Research in 2014 for her research. In 2016 Joana started her PhD on “Beyond good intentions: building passport for sustainable conservation”. Between 2019 and 2021 she was a guest PhD in the UNESCO chair on heritage and the reshaping of urban conservation for sustainability at TU Delft, the Netherlands. Between 2020 and 2022, she was a lecturer on heritage and sustainability at TU Delft, guiding master graduation projects on topics such as social engagement or zero waste approaches to heritage conservation.