Bringing over 20 years of industry and social enterprise experience, Claire Downey is responsible for leading the Rediscovery Centre’s research team in providing an evidence base for policy development and supporting circular living models. She has delivered multiple national and international projects including research related to circular metrics and targets, circular textiles, reuse quality marks, citizen and community engagement. Claire also leads the education team in delivering excellence in circular economy education and driving curriculum change. Claire is an active member of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform’s leadership group on circular behaviour, the RREUSE network, the Irish National Waste Advisory Group, the Irish National Textiles Advisory Group, the Irish EPA’s National Reuse and Repair Network and is a fellow with the Chartered Institute of Waste Management. She is also a board member of Green Foundation Ireland.
A lawyer by training, Astrid Schomaker is director for green diplomacy and multilateralism in the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment. Since joining the Commission in 1992, she has held a variety of posts in the areas of international relations and environment policy, amongst them leading the work on chemical policy, marine issues and the EU's environment policy strategy to 2030.
Pau is an accomplished professional with a master's from the College of Europe. With over four years of dedicated service at the European association for industrial battery companies EUROBAT, he led significant policy initiatives related to the batteries regulation. Recently, Pau has embarked on a new chapter in his career as the policy director at the energy technology company CATL, where he continues to leverage his expertise in shaping the future of energy policies.
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Virginijus Sinkevičius
EU Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries
European Commission
Prior to joining the European Commission, Virginijus Sinkevičius was the minister of economy of Lithuania from 2017 to 2019. He led the committee of economy at the parliament of Lithuania, to which he was elected in October 2016. Sinkevičius holds a bachelor’s in international relations and affairs from Aberystwyth University and a master’s in European international affairs from Maastricht University.
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Sandra Dokic
State Secretary
Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia
Sandra Dokic represents Serbia in many international environmental organisations and agreements. These include the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the global methane pledge, low emissions and climate-resilient economy in the Western Balkans and Türkiye, the EU’s 4GREEN project, the green agenda for the Western Balkans, and various United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entities. She is a lawyer holding a bachelor’s in law, master’s in economics and master’s in economic policy and development, all from the University of Belgrade.
Hans Bruyninckx is professor of environmental governance at the University of Antwerp and fellow at the Institute for Environment and Sustainability of the National University of Singapore. Between 2013 and 2023 he was the executive director of the European Environment Agency. Bruyninckx is an expert in European and international environmental policy, the effects of globalisation on the governance of environmental issues and sustainable development.
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Cillian Lohan
NAT Vice President
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
Cillian Lohan has been an active member of the EESC since 2015 and was vice president for communications from October 2020 to 2023. He has worked extensively in the corporate and environmental sectors. He is a leader in the field of the circular economy and was the inaugural chair of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, which he helped to establish. Cillian Lohan is CEO of the Green Economy Foundation, formerly known as Irish Natural Forestry Foundation.
Susanne van Berkum’s background is in chemistry. She has experience in chemical recycling of PET as well as working for a producer responsibility organisation responsible for the recycling of end-of-life vehicles. Currently Susanne is working for TNO in the field of circular value chains for critical raw materials, using practical experience to bridge the gap between knowing where to find these materials and recovering them from different waste streams to get the most out of them.
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Jutta Urpilainen
European Commissioner for International Partnerships (DG INTPA)
European Commission
Jutta Urpilainen oversees the European Commission’s work on international cooperation and sustainable development. Before joining the Commission, she served as a member of the Finnish Parliament from 2003 to 2019. In 2008, she became the first woman leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland. From 2011 to 2014, she served as Finland’s deputy prime minister and finance minister. During that time, she became closely involved in development issues, joining the Development Committee of the World Bank Group and IMF and chairing the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development. She served as the foreign minister’s special representative on mediation (2017-2019) and chaired the Finnish National Commission for UNESCO (2015-2018). Urpilainen was born in 1975. She is married and has two children.
Francesca is a public policy professional with 25 years’ experience in building partnerships between the public and private sectors. Prior to joining GS1, she worked at the European Commission and European Parliament, as well as for Ferrero as advocacy and sustainability lead. Among her biggest achievements are: the corporate social responsibility programme launched and developed to the highest public recognition for Ferrero, the convergence of environmental protection and chemical impacts in the framework of the EU chemical reform, and the fight against illicit trade through open non-proprietary standards for GS1. Francesca studied corporate social responsibility at the Harvard Business School and she holds a master’s in European law.
