Mercè Boy Roura is coordinator of the The Interreg MED Green Growth community and EU project manager at the BETA Technological Center at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (Spain). She is an environmental scientist with a PhD in Experimental Sciences and Sustainability. She has 10 years' international experience in research and knowledge transfer projects in the field of natural resources and sustainability.

The Interreg MED Green Growth community is a multi-stakeholder network of projects which promotes the green and circular economy in the Mediterranean by enhancing cross-sectoral innovation practices through a regional cooperation approach. Since 2016, the network has consisted of 14 projects connecting 165 partners from 13 countries in the Mediterranean. It structures its work around four focus areas: food systems, eco-innovation, smart cities and waste management. The community supports projects with their communication and capitalisation efforts, thus increasing their impact at policy level and fostering potential transfer and replication of their results in other regions. The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled the Green Growth Community in October 2019, acknowledging its potential to advance cooperation in the transition to a green and circular economy in the Mediterranean region.

At the Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) Larissa Copello is the Consumption and Production Campaigner working on upstream solutions for packaging and single-use plastic products, such as waste-free business models and reuse systems. 

Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) is the European network of communities, local leaders, experts, and change agents working towards the elimination of waste in our society. ZWE advocates for sustainable systems and the redesign of our relationship with resources to accelerate a just transition towards zero waste for the benefit of people and planet. 

ZWE is also part of the Rethink Plastic, an alliance of +10 European NGOs working together with European policy-makers to design and deliver policy solutions to tackle plastic pollution, under which Larissa Copello follows the policy developments on single-use plastic and packaging.

Ladeja Godina Košir, Founder and Executive Director of Circular Change is an internationally renowned expert for circular economy, speaker, (co)author of several CE reports and articles, as well as the co-creator of international circular economy events. Ladeja was the finalist of The Circular Leadership Award 2018 (Davos WEF) and named one of "The #EUwomen4future campaign” featuring extraordinary women active in research, innovation, education, culture and sport by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth in 2020. She is recognised as the regional "engine of circular economy transition". She is the co-author of the first Roadmap towards the Circular Economy and creator and team leader of the annual international Circular Change Conference. National circular economy roadmapping process based on stakeholder engagement is what Ladeja is consulting on to several countries and cities – Serbia, Montenegro, Norway, Israel, Chile…

Ladeja has several international roles: the Chair of the coordination group of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP) in Brussels (2018/20), visiting professor at the Doshisha University in Kyoto, Co-leader of the Research Group Circular Economy Systems at the Bertalanfy Center for the Study of Systems Science (BCSSS) in Vienna.

Transdisciplinary systemic approach and holistic view is what Ladeja is implementing as an entrepreneur, communications professional, speaker, moderator, lecturer, mentor and passionate connector. She is empowering a new narrative and circular culture. She is bridging bioeconomy and the circular economy – one of the EU projects she is contributing to is Effective (Horizon 2020 & BBI JU), a multi-company collaboration to produce more sustainable bio-based fibers and plastics for large consumer products by using renewable feedstocks and innovative technologies. She is also chairing the expert group for the BIOeast Foreasight Exercise 2050. Ladeja is working with governments, city authorities, companies, NGO’s, media, universities – empowering true collaboration to enable circular change.

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability is a global network of more than 1,750 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. Active in over 100 countries, ICLEI influences sustainability policy and drives local action for low emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development.

Mark Hidson joined ICLEI in 2003. He is a member of ICLEI Europe’s Board of Directors and responsible for ICLEI’s Sustainable Economy and Procurement work. For 25 years he has worked for, and on behalf of, local, regional and national governments in project, policy and strategy development on sustainability issues such as smart cities, circular economy, business and city interaction, procurement, climate change and transport.