Silvia Ručinská is a University Professor at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Faculty of Public Administration (Slovakia). In her research and teaching activities she focuses on the topics of public policy, public administration, governance, eGovernment, smart cities, disinformation, strategic management, leadership, territorial development. As a lead research and researcher she contributed in several projects, as for example Driving change and capacity building towards innovative, Entrepreneurial Universities (InnoChange, EIT digital Project); Capacity building for an output oriented management in small and medium sized municipalities (KoWist, Erasmus+ Project); Functional city region as an innovative approach for an integrated territorial development in the Slovak Republic conditions. She worked on several expertise and consultancies for concrete cities in the Slovak Republic. She is a part of an international consortium, which focuses on the analysis of disinformation in public policy (Counterfake). In the recent months she also contributed to a study and analysis for OECD within the project Strengthening the Resilience of Public Administration after COVID-19 with the Common Assessment Framework (CAF).
Miroslav Fečko is an Assistant Professor at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Faculty of Public Administration (Slovakia). In his research and teaching he focuses on particular aspects of public administration, public policy, eGovernment, smart cities, municipalities and cities, communal management, disinformation, EU single market. The research orientation is evident in his engagement in national and international projects in recent years focusing on Capacity building for an output oriented management in small and medium sized municipalities; Functional city regions as an innovative approach for an integrated territorial development; Public administration education quality enhancement; Driving change and capacity building towards innovative, Entrepreneurial Universities; Strengthening the Resilience of Public Administration after COVID-19 with the Common Assessment Framework. He also acquired experiences as the supervisor of mayors and employees of the self-government units regarding the implementation of the Municipality Data Centre, which was introducing eGovernment at the municipality level.
Ondrej Mitaľ currently works as an assistant professor at the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. As a member of the Department of Public Policy and Theory of Public Administration concentrates his research activities on the impacts of new digital forms of communication on municipalities and cities, the use of social media by public institutions, and policymaking. Within his research, he also deals with the importance of trust in public institutions, public integrity, as well as transparency and openness of public institutions. His research and educational orientation are indicated by his involvement in national and international projects over recent years, particularly Future of public administration (FoPA), European Inclusive education for digital society, social innovation and global citizenship (EURIDICE), Shared public services towards inte- grated self-government, Strengthening the resilience of public administration after COVID-19 with the CAF.
Josef Bernhart is a Senior Researcher and Vice Head of the Eurac Research Institute for Public Management in Bolzano (Italy) as well as external lecturer at the University of Innsbruck, the Berlin School of Economics and Law, and the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. His research focuses on international public management reforms, quality management in public sector organizations, social management, brand management und sustainability management.
Furthermore, he is a committed volunteer in the social and cultural area, especially as a member of the committee and leadership of the Catholic Labourers Association (KVW), and as a representative of the local social associations in the council of the AFI Institute South Tyrol (Institute for the Promotion of Employment).
Kurt Promberger is a Professor of Public Management, E-Government & Public Governance at Institute of Strategic Management, Marketing & Tourism at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). Furthermore he is Head of the Eurac Research Institute for Public Management (Bolzano, Italy). His research focuses on management-oriented public administration reforms in comparative perspective, budget management, accounting reforms, digital government, quality management in public sector organizations, brand management and sustainability management.
Peter Decarli is a researcher at the Institute for Public Management of Eurac Research in Bolzano, Italy, and an external lecturer at University of Innsbruck, Austria. His research focuses primarily on Government Analytics, Public sector innovation and municipal management. Exploring data-driven advancements and innovations in the public sector as well as the possibility for international collaboration and knowledge exchange are his aspirations for DiGreen and other projects.
Davide Maffei is a researcher at the Institute for Public Management of Eurac Research in Bolzano, South Tyrol, and a PhD student in Management at the University of Innsbruck, Tyrol. His research focuses primarily on the public administration and on public expenditure. He is originally from Trentino but completed his bachelor studies in Political Science and in Management and Economics as well as the master program Management, Communication & IT in Innsbruck. It is no wonder that he is often defined as a “child of the Euregio”.
Melanie Gross is a researcher at the Institute for Public Management of Eurac Research in Bolzano, Italy. Her research focuses primarily on gender equality in politics and community innovation, including sustainable development of communities and cities.
Franziska Cecon is a professor for public management at the Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences, in the Department of Healthcare, Social and Public Management, which covers a part-time bachelor’s and a master’s programme, since 2007. Her fields of interest are public management reforms and innovations at all governance levels but especially at the local level. Digital transformation, sustainability, reorganisation schemes are only some of the current topics she is dealing with. Also, governance aspects like transparency, participation or outcome orientation are part of her profile. Regional management issues like intermunicipal cooperation, strategic development, resilience of regions or brownfield development are research topics she is recently involved in.
Dominik Prüller has joined the DiGreen project team in March 2022. He has a bachelor’s degree in social economics and assists professor Franziska Cecon as research fellow. Besides his work for the DiGreen project, he is mainly working with children and teenagers in the primary and secondary educational sector, with a focus on non-formal education and socially disadvantaged young people.
Belinda Hanner did her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria at the Campus for Medical Engineering & Applied Social Sciences in Linz. Currently, she is working as a research associate at the Univer- sity mentioned above and assists Professor Franziska Cecon.
Tina Ortner has been working as a research associate since 2010 at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, at the Campus for Medical Engineering & Applied Social Sciences in Linz. The research projects she is involved in focus on public administration, social services and innovations as well as accompanying social and acceptance research for technical innovations such as in the field of e-health, ambient assisted living and autonomous driving. Since 2022, she is also a lecturer at the Social Pedagogy course and teaches scientific work and nutrition, as she is also a trained dietician.
George-Cornel DUMITRESCU, PhD, senior researcher and coordinator of the Department of Structural Changes in the World Economy of IWE, has a strong background in macroeconomics. Mr Dumitrescu has attended a significant number of scientific conferences at the national and international levels and published numerous scientific papers in various fields, including but not limited to the transition toward the circular economy and ICT. He is also a research expert at the Centre for Writing European Projects. Mr Dumitrescu has coordinated studies regarding the digital and green transition. He is responsible for managing and coordinating all project activities on the Romanian side.
Simona MOAGĂR- POLADIAN, PhD Habil, senior research fellow and Managing Director of the Institute for World Economy from Bucharest, has experience in structural changes in the world economy, economic integration, and economic effects of climate change. Since 2020 she has been Professor Habil at the Romanian Academy of Doctoral Studies. Moagăr-Poladian is also a member of the Management Board of the Romanian European Institute from Bucharest. Between 2014 and 2015, she was the project manager for a National Project for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Studies under European Social Fund and coordinated PhD and postdoctoral students in Fundamental and Applied Scientific Research. Since April 2020, she is also the project manager of the Centre for Writing European Projects in the field of Climate Change, submitted to the Institute for World Economy and funded by the Competitiveness Operational Program.
Mrs Andreea-Emanuela DRĂGOI, PhD, senior research fellow of IWE, has a strong background in sustainable rural development policies and renewable energies. Mrs Drăgoi participated as an expert in numerous national and international research projects. Between 2013 and 2014, she participated as an expert in the Dialogue and experience exchange project regarding renewable energy policies, identifying opportunities for cooperation between China and Romania. Between 2014 and 2015, she worked as an editing expert and coordinated the volumes edited within the European Programme “Doctorial and post-doctorial programs for research support” – Impact of Socioeconomic and Technological Transformations at a National, European and World Level. Currently, she is a member of the Center for Writing European Projects research team in Climate Change under the Institute for World Economy coordination starting in July 2020.
Alina-Cerasela AVRAM (Aluculesei), PhD, research fellow IWE, is a Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies graduate and has experience coordinating studies in the digital and green transition field. Alina is editor–in–chief and founder of the Junior Scientific Researcher online research journal. The publication was founded in 2015 after she won the Start-Up Smart funding project for young entrepreneurs. She also has vast experience in organising academic conferences, being part of the organising team of the “Romanian Conference for Education and Research”, an annual event organised by the Enformation company.
Mihaela GRAMATICU, PhD, has been a research assistant at the Institute for World Economy (Romanian Academy) since 2020. Previously, Mihaela gained seven years of teaching experience as a professional trainer, developing and designing training courses in development studies.
Among other activities in EU projects, she was an expert for the project “Long life learning training session for teachers to gain IT skills and TIC technologies for teaching and assessment of English language at European level” ID 62665. She also has experience organising training sessions, conferences, workshops, and debates on the issues of formal education, working for eight years in a Learning Resource Centre affiliated with the Ministry of Education in Romania.
Bianca MITRICĂ, PhD, senior researcher, Head of the Human Geography and Regional Development Department, Institute of Geography, Romanian Academy, has a strong background in local and regional development. She was involved in 40 research projects focused on socioeconomic disparities in regional development, territorial competitiveness, cross-border cooperation and socioeconomic vulnerability to natural hazards. She was the national leader of the Horizon 2020 Project, “Social and innovative Platform on Cultural Tourism and its potential towards deepening Europeanisation”, 2020-2022. She coordinated WP6 Socioeconomic evaluation of the SEE Transnational Cooperation Program project “Climate Change Impacts on Water Supply”, 2009-2012 and is a research expert at the Centre for Writing European Projects.
Mrs Steliana RODINO – with a background in Biotechnology and Bioeconomy (PhD), have a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Economy and an M.Sc. in Biotechnologies for Environmental Protection. She has experience in the analysis of business environment for identifying flagship cases in specific areas (circular economy, bioeconomy, ecosystem services, food production); dissemination and transfer of technical and scientific knowledge to interested parties (business environment, public administration, farmers & associative forms, civil society); development of communication strategy for increasing the visibility of the research group and reaching a relevant audience.
