Advisory Board

Dimitris Poursanidis, Ph.D., is a marine scientist and Earth observation analyst focused on understanding our seascapes. With expertise in marine ecology and biodiversity, he has dedicated his career to studying marine ecosystems and the impacts of human activity. Driven by a passion for conservation, Dimitris investigates the relationships between marine life and their environment, promoting biodiversity protection and sustainable practices. A key area of his work is seagrass ecosystems, where he uses advanced technologies such as satellites and drones.

Through remote sensing, he monitors the health and extent of seagrass meadows, offering valuable perspectives on their dynamics and resilience under environmental stress. Beyond monitoring, Dimitris contributes to seagrass restoration, applying his expertise in marine ecology to design effective, science-based strategies. Working with interdisciplinary teams, he bridges scientific research and field practice to support seagrass recovery amid growing anthropogenic pressures. His holistic approach to conservation aims to inspire action and raise awareness of seagrasses’ vital role in coastal biodiversity and human well-being. Dimitris exemplifies a strong commitment to ocean protection and a sustainable future.

He is a member of the UNESCO GOOS Biodiversity and Ecosystems Panel, co-leads the Seagrass EOV, and is part of the UN/CMS 2030 Seagrass Breakthrough. He also belongs to the Mediterranean Posidonia Network and co-authored the Guidelines for the Restoration of Posidonia oceanica (2024). He was lead author of UNEP/GRID’s Out of the Blue: The Value of Seagrasses (2020) and has published 60+ peer-reviewed articles on seagrass mapping, monitoring, and biodiversity. He is also an underwater multimedia creator, producing content to raise local awareness.

Civil engineer with 15+ years of proven experience in the construction and infrastructure sector, specialising in the management of complex projects in the fields of risk and resilience assessments, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) for land infrastructure, urban areas and large territorial are

In the last 10 years, he has managed more than 50 Innovation and Consulting projects in the infrastructure sector, with a value exceeding €15M (RINA budget) and approximately €100M globally (project budgets). He has led projects across Italy, Europe, North America, the Middle and Far East, and Africa.

He is currently Coordinator of the Horizon Europe project MULTICLIMACT (MULTI-faceted CLIMate adaptation ACTions to improve resilience, preparedness and responsiveness of the built environment against multiple hazards at multiple scales), as well as RINA Project Manager for several EU-funded projects, including NEVERMORE, MEDIATE, RISKADAPT, RC4, and MED-IREN, among others.

He is the author of more than 50 scientific publications, published in peer-reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8303-6871), and serves as a reviewer for international journals, including Environment Systems and Decisions, Reliability Engineering & System Safety, Sustainable Cities and Society, and the Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Notably, he contributed to a publication by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies in Europe.

Mr Fuggini is a native Italian speaker, very fluent in English, with a good command of French and basic knowledge of Spanish.

Dr. Vasileios Baousis is a Senior Analyst at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), with a background spanning operational weather forecasting and advanced computing systems.

He completed a BSc at the Hellenic Air Force Academy before serving as an operational weather forecaster at the Hellenic National Meteorological Service. He subsequently earned two MSc degrees in Communication Systems and Data Networks in Greece and the United Kingdom, followed by a PhD in Mobile and Distributed Computing from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA).

In recent years, Vasileios has been leading the design, development, and evolution of the European Weather Cloud (EWC) infrastructure at ECMWF. His responsibilities have covered the full lifecycle of the platform, including hardware specification, deployment and configuration, as well as cloud infrastructure, storage solutions, and orchestration technologies.

He currently acts as Principal Investigator (PI) and Technical Manager in several European Commission–funded projects, including PI and Technical Manager for EO4EU, PI for Leadership for Climate-Resilient Buildings (CLIMRES), and contributor to DEPLOY AI, Buildspace, and MediWin.

Vasileios regularly chairs sessions and serves on Scientific and Programme Committees of leading international conferences, including the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU), Living Planet Symposium, BIDS, EUMETSAT Conferences, and AI-driven Data Engineering and Reusability for Earth and Space Sciences (DARES 2025). He is also a regular reviewer for international scientific journals, including the Journal of Systems and Software (Elsevier), Journal of Intelligent Systems (IEEE), and Journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (Springer), as well as numerous IEEE conferences. In addition, he participates in the evaluation of European Commission–funded projects.