Dr. Royboon, leveraging over 20 years of expertise in introducing science, technology, and innovation for Community Water Resources Management, emerges as a transformative figure, guiding communities towards self-sufficiency in water management. Her leadership empowers communities through the adoption of sustainable practices, highlighting the Nature-based Solutions (NBS) concept. In her capacity as Director of the Hydro-Informatics Institute, she leads efforts to position the institute as a preeminent data and knowledge center, facilitating effective water management practices nationwide. Driven by a devoted commitment to fostering collaboration, she strengthens partnerships both domestically and internationally to ensure the implementation of comprehensive, data-driven approaches for long-term sustainability and community resilience.

Peter Glas studied mathematics, natural sciences, and law in Leiden (Netherlands). Subsequently, he held various positions at, inter alia, Delft Hydraulics (now: Deltares) and the Directorate General for the Environment at the then Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Netherlands. As from 1 March 2003, he was appointed by Royal Decree as Chairman of the De Dommel waterboard, his current primary post. In the period 2004-2015, he sat on the board of the Association of Dutch Regional Water Authorities, serving as national Chair for the latter five years. Since 2013, he has been an international Chair of the OECD Water Governance Initiative. Peter Glas also served as a government commissioner for the national Delta Program. The national Delta Program protects the Netherlands against flooding, ensure ssufficient freshwater and contributes to a climate-proof and water-resilient design of the country. The Delta Commissioner is appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management and is tasked with monitoring the progress of the Delta Program and providing solicited and unsolicited advice to the government on water safety, fresh water availability and spatial adaptation.

Iwona, holds a professorship at the UNESCO Chair on Ecohydrology and Applied Ecology within the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection at the University of Lodz in Poland. With her primary focus on ecohydrology and sustainability, she served for several years as the Scientific Secretary and member of the Scientific Committee of the Ecohydrology Project under UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme. Additionally, she acted as a liaison for the International Environmental Technology Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme on Ecohydrology and Phytotechnology.
Since 2022, she has been a member of the Advisory Board of the European Partnership Water4All (Water Security for the Planet) serving on the Scientific and Technological Board of the Programme. Furthermore, she participates in the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change as a member of the Programme Committee Working Group. Due to her interests in Nature-based Solutions (NbS), she has recently been invited to contribute as an expert in the European Committee for Standardization's efforts to develop European standards for NbS. Since 2020, she has held the position of Scientific Secretary of the Committee on Climate
Crisis Issues at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
In addition to ecohydrology and nature-based solutions, her research areas and scientific interests include urban ecohydrology and adaptation to global climate change based on ecosystem approach. She has been involved in the development of several Urban Adaptation Plans to climate change for cities in Poland and advocates for blue-green infrastructure to be recognized as critical infrastructure. She has worked on several EU and international projects, authored over 30 publications in international journals, contributed to 15 books and handbook chapters, co-edited 6 international books, and delivered over 100 oral presentations at international conferences.

Robert Costanza(PhD, FASSA, FRSA) is a professor of Ecological Economics at the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London and an Ambassador of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll). He is co-founder and past-president of the International Society for Ecological Economics, and founding editor of Ecological Economics. He is the current editor in chief of The Anthropocene Review. Professor Costanza’s trans disciplinary research integrates the study of humans and the rest of nature to address research, policy and management issues at multiple time and space scales, from small watersheds to the global system. His areas of expertise include: ecological economics, ecosystem services, landscape ecology, integrated ecological and socioeconomic modelling, energy and material flow analysis, environmental policy, social traps and addictions, incentive structures and institutions.  He is the author or co-author of over 600 scientific papers and 30 books, including his latest book: Addicted to Growth: Societal Therapy for a Sustainable Wellbeing Future. His work has been cited more than 150,000 times in Google Scholar with an h-index of 142. More than 360 interviews and reports on his work have appeared in various popular media and he has written over 75 articles for the popular press.

Philippe Quevauviller has been researcher in oceanography in the years 1983-1989 at the University of Bordeaux (France) in cooperation with the Portuguese Environment Ministry in Lisbon (Portugal) and the Dutch Ministry for Public Works in The Hague. He obtained two PhDs (oceanography and environmental chemistry) in 1987 and 1991, and the highest French University degree (HDR) in 1999. He started his career at the European Commission in 1989 as a scientific officer at DG Research (in charge of QA/QC of environmental analyses), then as a policy officer at DG Environment (in charge of EU water policies) in the years 2002-2008, and back to DG Research from 2008 to 2013 in the area of hydrometeorological hazards. He then moved to the Secure Societies Programme in 2013, firstly at DG Enterprise (2013) then at DG Home (2015), where he is responsible for research programming in the area of Disaster Resilient Societies. From 2014 onward, he has coordinated the development of the Community of Users on Secure, Safe and Resilient Societies (now Community for European Research and Innovation for Security, CERIS). Besides his work at the European Commission, he developed an academic career as Associate Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) during the years 2007-2019, and as a scientific writer and editor (with more than 250 papers and 20 books published in the international literature). On a personal touch, he is leading several musical bands and is a music producer.

Visiting Professor and Honorary Fellow, (UNESCO)-IHE International Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands. Former Statutory Professor, NUI Chair of Civil Engineering (1845), UCC. Former UNESCO/UNDP/WHO Chief Technical Advisor, The National Commission for theEnvironment, Lisbon, Portugal. Member of the joint Italian Government / UNESCO Committee for the “Safeguarding of the Lagoon of Venice”. Founding Director of the(Dooge) Centre for Water Resources Research (CWRR), University College Dublin, UCD. Former Council Member and President of the Hydrology Division, European Geophysical Society, now the European Geosciences Union, and founder of its e-journal “Hydrology and Earth System Science – HESS”.