Mauro Agnoletti
Mauro Agnoletti is a distinguished scholar and academic leader with extensive experience in the fields of agricultural heritage landscapes, environmental protection, and cultural heritage conservation. With a diverse background in academia, research, and policy advocacy, he has made significant contributions to the field.
Currently, he holds the prestigious position of Chair of the UNESCO Chair of Agricultural Heritage Landscapes at the Institute of Higher Studies, University of Florence, Italy. Additionally, he serves as an Associate Professor at the School of Agriculture, University of Florence (DAGRI). Furthermore, he leads the coordination efforts at the Laboratory for Landscape and Cultural Heritage and serves as the Director of the Master in Agricultural Heritage Systems at the University of Florence, Italy.
Mauro Agnoletti has held key positions in public policy, notably as President of the Commission for the Implementation of the Law on “Old Forests” at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (2023), and as a representative member of the National Observatory of Rural Landscape for the National Strategic Plan for the EU Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027, Ministry of Agriculture, Rome.
He has actively participated in approximately 340 national and international meetings, contributing as an invited speaker in 225 of them. Notable speaking engagements include appearances at the COP on Climate in Bonn (2017), the High-Level Segment Meeting at the COP on Biodiversity in Hadong, Korea (2018), and the State of the European Union in Florence (2023).
His scholarly contributions include publications such as “Rural Landscape, Conservation and Culture: Some notes on research trends and management approaches from a (southern) European perspective” in Landscape and Urban Planning, Vol. 126 (2014), and “Italian Historical Rural Landscapes: Cultural Values for the Environment and Rural Development” (ed.), published by Springer, Dordrecht, and New York (2012).
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field, he was awarded the Scientific Award by the International Union of Forest Research Organisation in 2024.
Evangelia Psychogiopoulou
Evangelia Psychogiopoulou is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the University of the Peloponnese and senior research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP).
She studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She holds a DEA in European Law from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a Doctorate in Law (PhD) from the European University Institute.
Her main areas of research are: EU law and governance, fundamental rights, EU cultural policy and media regulation, EU digital policies and judicial dialogue in Europe.
She has participated in several collaborative research projects funded by the EU as coordinator, task leader and/or researcher. She is the author of The Integration of Cultural Considerations in EU Law and Policies (2008, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). Her publications include: Cultural Governance and the European Union: Protecting and Promoting Cultural Diversity in Europe (ed., Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and European Union Economic Law and Culture: Towards a European Culturally Corrected Market Economy (with Sarah Schoenmaekers, eds, Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming, 2024).
Marcello Scalisi
Director of the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED) since 2008.
He holds a degree in historical sciences and international cooperation from the Faculty of Literature, Philosophy and Languages at the University of Roma Tre, Rome.
UNIMED, a network of Higher Education and Research Institutions, has solidified its position as a permanent stakeholder with the European Commission, actively fostering academic cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and the Western Balkans.