Current ECOLISE Council, elected from the May 2023 General Assembly

Social Entrepreneur since 1982 in the Netherlands and Czech Republic. She has worked in several organizations for Welfare and Healthcare in operation, staff, and management. She likes to create new services and products that supports people to be active in the regeneration of our planet and in personal development. With her organization Liberta Care Foundation (NL) she supported Dutch youngsters involved in criminality, with time-out projects. Later collaborating with young refugees in NL. She is the founder of LiberTerra; an integral concept of ‘eco-communities which supports authorities by issues like climate change and biobased building’: We live and work with entrepreneurs who ‘walk their talk’ about sustainability, to take care of the planet. With our team(s) we guide new projects, especially in their contacts with authorities and local governments.

Born in the small city of Miercurea-Ciuc in the Romanian Carpathian mountains was offered the opportunity to grow in a urban space and on the same time closer to the natural environment. The communist regime time, the rural past of his family and the multi-cultural social context deeply shaped his inner world.
His professional journey goes along design, communication and image, management, strategy and educational program design, facilitation and consultancy and advisoring. Passionate about networking, sensing the future and manifesting the embodied gifts.
Deeply connected with the ecovillage, transition towns and permaculture movements, Claudian Dobos was the first elected president of ECOLISE between 2015 and 2017. Based in Romania, he is advisoring on what he calls “legacy impact” projects for individuals, organisations and sponsors/investors worldwide engaging with a vast range of projects from local to global outreach.”

I have worked actively in the environmental management sector most of my life, in both voluntary and paid roles, with a deep passion for how people and communities can play a major part in tackling climate change and improving natural ecosystems. As director of Climadapt, a non-profit organisation that aims to empower individuals and organisations to reduce their carbon emissions and prepare and/or adapt to climate change in the best possible ways, this includes making assessments and individualised plans. Most recently I also volunteered with the COP26 Coalition in Glasgow and helped write ‘Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change’, which included case studies from ecological communities around the world. I am a civil society representative on the United Nations Environmental Programme, with a focus on how community level initiatives can be empowered in responding or leading the way to environmental threats and the intersection with the socio-economic sphere. In a personal capacity, I have an area of land where I am implementing permaculture techniques, as well as being a keen bee keeper and practitioner of yoga.

Leonor is a psychologist, life coach and extensive experience in non-formal education and community work; project coordinator for international projects in the fields of digital youth work and socio-digital innovation, as well as technological innovation dedicated to ecological transition, within our Living Lab. She’s bringing her expertise in complexity management and social innovation, the know-how of GEN culture. With direct access to Smala board of international experts in deep innovation (co-founders of free software movement, co-founder of Wikipedia, the foundation of Open Source Ecology …) to empower ECOLISE. Her main motivation is to be part of the change in ECOLISE.

 

A Council member of ECOLISE, a Council member of Baltic Ecovillage Network, member of national network working group in GEN Europe and manager of Ecohomestead and Bioeconomy Cluster – Lithuanian National Network which unites NGO and private companies (permaculture, sustainable business advisory, eco communities, ecovillages, forest protection, etc). Lina Cirvinskiene has a Bachelor degree in Political Sciences (Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences) and Master degree in Innovation and Technology Management, with specialization in sustainable/circular innovations (ISM University of Management and Economics). She is an experienced business developer, innovator and business advisor for sustainable/circular/social entrepreneurship with over 10 years of experience in leadership and management of projects and organizations (development of companies, NGO and cluster). She’s been interested in sustainability in different areas for over 15 years. From 2019 Lina Cirvinskiene is an active member of Lithuanian ecovillage and eco community “Krunai”.

 

Merushe, the Project Coordinator for Erasmus+/ ESC projects of PVN has 8+ years of work experience in Albania and overseas. She has been running many projects in the field of youth for national and international NGOs tackling various issues including human rights, media, violent extremism, refugees, etc. Merushe works as a freelance researcher in the field of gender and sexualities and she holds two master’s degrees on Sociology of Community Development and on Democracy and Human Rights in Southeast Europe. Since 2019 Merushe has been involved in the projects development process under Erasmus+ for several European NGOs, she has published few articles in international academic journals and produced manuals for the projects implemented. Lately, she is engaged as a youth trainer in Albania and Europe focusing on volunteering, youth, gender issues, climate change and media as well as teaches at the Faculty of Social Science at University of Tirana.

 

At SCCAN I support climate action across Tayside in Scotland, connecting and sharing the work of over 200 grassroots groups. I am a zoologist turned wildlife filmmaker. I set up Sustainable Kirriemuir in 2019. Creativity and collaboration can power up and celebrate community transformation. We’ve just installed the world’s first 3D printed log hive in our community garden. Tayside is leading on connecting farmers, government and communities to transform the regional food system. Dundee is one of the first Nature Based Solution Cities in Europe. Ecosystem restoration, & citizen science are transforming the region through Bio-regioning Tayside. The need to share and learn fast, lead me to want to join the Council. I share your values. I bring skills in storytelling and film making. I’d love to help support and share the work you do.

 


ECOLISE Council, elected from the April 2022 General Assembly

 

 

 


 

 

 


 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 


 

 

 


In July 2022 Duncan Crowley stepped down from Council to join the ECOLISE team, but remained on in “transition” capacity for some time.


ECOLISE Council, elected from the April 2021 General Assembly, and Co-Presidents elected at the Extraordinary General Assembly of June 30th, 2021

Co-president: Alisa Dendro, Baltic Ecovillage Network (Sweden)

 

 

 

 


 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


Lucia Di Paola, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability

 

 

 

 


Pedro Pedrosa, Gaia Education

 

 

 

 


Manja Vrenko, GEN Europe

 

 

The ECOLISE Council elected at the General Assembly, April 2021.

At the time 11 members were elected: Leonor Afonso, GEN Europe; Johnny Azpilicueta, Iberian Ecovillage Network (Spain); Suzie Cahn, Carraig Dúlra (Ireland); Duncan Crowley, FCUL (Portugal); Lucia Di Paola, ICLEI; Nenad Maljkovic, Croatian Permaculture; Pedro Pedrosa, Gaia Education; Nonty Sabic, GEN; Alisa Sidorenko, Baltic Ecovillage Network; Giorgia Silvestri, DRIFT (Netherlands); Manja Vrenko, GEN Europe.

Nonty Sabic and Duncan Crowley were chosen as interim Co-Presidents until July 2021.

After the Extraordinary General Assembly of June 30th, 2021, Alisa Sidorenko and Duncan Crowley were confirmed as Co-Presidents.

Suzie Cahn and Nonty Sabic stepped down from the Council on June 15th, 2021. Giorgia Silvestri and Johnny Azpilicueta stepped down end of 2021. We remember all of them as incredibly inspiring colleagues and individuals, and cherish the times that we had together.

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The ECOLISE Council elected on April 2019

Co-president: Francesca Whitlock, Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) Europe, (Spain/UK)

 

 

 

 


Co-president: Davie Philip, Cultivate (Ireland)

 

 

 

 

 

 


Alexandru Tudose, Permaculture Research Institute (Romania)

 

 

 

 


Alisa Dendro, Baltic Ecovillage Network (Sweden)

 


Amelie Krug, Baltic Ecovillage Network (Germany)

 

 

 

 


Ellen Bermann, (Transition Network)

 

 

 

 

 


Genny Carraro, RIVE, GEN-EU (Italy)

 

 

 

 

 


Gil Penha-Lopes, FFCUL (Portugal)

 

 

 

 


Nara Petrovič, Sunny Hill (Slovenia)

 

 

 

 

 


Riccardo De Amici, RIVE, GEN-EU (Italy)

 

 

 

 


Robert Hall GEN-EU (Sweden) – from 4th May 2020 he has joined the ECOLISE team, as Deputy Director

 

 

 

 

 

The ECOLISE Council elected on 2017

Ana Huertas (Vice-President), Andy Goldring, Davie Philip, Emilia Rekestad, Genny Carraro, Katy Fox (resigned), Nara Petrovič, Nenad Maljković, Robert Hall (President), Sarah McAdam, Tim Clarke

The ECOLISE Council elected on 2015

Ana Huertas, Andy Goldring, Ania Rok, Claudian Dobos (President), Genny Carraro, Gil Penha-Lopes, May East, Nara Petrovič, Sarah McAdam (Vice-President), Tim Clarke, Tom Henfrey

The first ECOLISE Council statutory appointed on 2014

Alejo Etchart, Andy Goldring, Ben Brangwyn, Eamon O’Hara (President), Gil Penha-Lopes, Katy Fox, Kitty De Bruin, Kosha Joubert, May East, Robert Hall