Tiago Oliveira is a PhD and Forest Engineer with 30 years of experience in national and international activities, specialising in the topics of wildland fire risk management and governance.

He was appointed by the Prime-Minister in the aftermath of the 2017 wildfire season, to lead the creation of the Integrated Rural Fire Management System in Portugal. He has also been Chairman of the Board of the Portuguese Agency for Integrated Rural Fire Management since January 2019.

Tiago chaired the Organising Committee of the 8th International Wildland Fire Congress and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Wildland Fire.

Previous posts include:
Head of the Department of Innovation and Forestry Development (2016-2017) at The Navigator Company

Head of Forest Protection, responsible for fire prevention and suppression operational programs and R&D project, from 2008 to 2016.

Assistant Lecturer at MedFor Master (2013-2017)

Advisor of the XV and XVII Portuguese Governments (2004)

Head of Inventory and GIS unit (1998-2003) and Assistant Research (1994-1998) at National Geographic Agency.

Besides several communications and papers, Tiago has developed his personal and professional skills in strategy, planning, risk analysis, forest investment, change management, communication, project management, natural resource surveying, GIS and remote sensing.

Born in Scotland, Val Charlton has lived in Cape Town, South Africa for most of her life and loves the outdoors. She deems it a privilege to have been able to work with communities and conservation organisations for a large part of her career. Community-based fire management is her area of specialty, working with people that live in fire-prone landscapes across the globe.

Val promotes Integrated Fire Management practice to address landscape fire risks and hazards, This includes 20 + years of Wildland Urban Interface/Intermix facilitation in both urban and remote rural communities, collaborating with private landowners, government and conservation agencies in multi-stakeholder social ecology/economic projects in various countries.

As a practitioner, her work has encompassed initiating and co-creating green, youth and female focused employment programmes and opportunities that are also of benefit to the wider community, thus improving the likelihood of sustained community-driven hazard reduction and resilience action. Elements of climate adaptation, disaster resilience and socio–environmental– economic projects, community-based natural resource management, food security, the use of nature–based solutions, early childhood development and a variety of capacity building courses are brought in to support Integrated Fire Management practices.

Believing that it is critically important to work collectively and share experience, Val sits on the Cape Floristic Region Partnership Committee, the International Liaison Committee for the IWFC series and is an advisor to the EU FIRE-RES project which partnered with the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance to launch the Wildfire-Resilient Landscapes Network at COP28.

I was born in 1977 in Moscow, the youngest of three kids. My father was a scientist, my mother raised kids. I studied law in Russian People Friendship University and worked as a corporate lawyer for 12 years.

In Summer 2010 I joined the volunteer wildland firefighting brigade during "Smoky Summer" -  a serious fire catastrophe in European Russia, since then I decided to change my field of work. In 2012 I joined Greenpeace Russia to work for Forest and Fire projects. I was responsible for leading [projects aimed to push for systemic changes in wildland firefighting and wildfire prevention in Russia. Was trained and certified as Incident Commander. In 2014 we started a new project for Greenpeace globally and tried to address all aspects of wildfires including climate change aspects. Also I started to work with greenpeace Indonesia being lead trainer for GPID fire prevention team - TCA.

Working for fire projects in Greenpeace allowed me to be part of fire prevention and firefighting missions in forest, steppe, peat fires, to work in the Far East and radioactively contaminated peatlands in Bryansk region, from Ladoga in the North to Kaspiy in the South. I was also involved in fire related projects in Indonesia, Cyprus, Germany.

In 2020 I left Greenpeace and led fire prevention projects for WWF in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. I worked with the Russian nature reserve system.

In 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine and started the war it was unsafe for me and my wife to stay in Russia. Our anti-war position created a risk of being arrested. We moved to UK.

Now I consult a few NGO's and I'm a co-founder of "Pyrocene Alliance" - an NGO that aims to promote new approaches to fire ecology.

Marc started in this fire world as a firefighter in 1989. From there, he became a fire-ecology forester in 1997. Marc started his current position as Incident Commander and Wildfire Strategic Analyst at Catalan Fire Service in 1999.

Since then, Marc has created the GRAF teams and directed their division, along with establishing a prescribed burn plan and wildfire training programme. He is also involved in international support missions as the EU ECPM wildfire expert.‍

Marc is a founder and former President of the Pau Costa Foundation, now on its Advisory committee. He also teaches at the University of Lleida Master Fuego as a Professor and serves as the advisory board member at Leverhulme Wildfire Center.

Marc has been recognised by the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF), winning the Safety Award at Boise in 2015. He also won the Montero de Burgos award for Communication at Forest and Wildfires in Madrid 2017. In 2022, he received the Felip Costafreda award for the work he did for the farming community and their role in landscape management against wildfires.

Since 2021, Marc has been back at school, doing a PhD in boundary layer physics, and wildfire changed fire spread patterns at WUR (NL).

Francesca Osowska serves as the Chief Executive of NatureScot, where she plays a pivotal role in leading efforts to enhance and protect Scotland's natural environment. Her leadership is characterized by a strong focus on nature-based solutions to address climate change and promote biodiversity.

Mark Jones is a seasoned professional fire chief with extensive experience in wildfire management and rural fire policy. His career has been marked by significant contributions to both national and international wildfire forums. Notably, Jones was a founding member of the Scottish Wildfire Forum and the English Wildfire Forum, where his leadership helped shape wildfire policies across the UK.

From 2007 to 2014, Jones served as the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) lead and spokesperson on rural fires, further cementing his role as a key figure in fire prevention and wildfire policy. In addition to his work with the NFCC, he was the Chairman of the CTIF (International Association of Fire and Rescue Services) Forest Fires Commission from 2005 to 2010, contributing to global discussions on forest fire management and prevention.

In 2019, Jones took on the role of Chief Officer of the South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS). During his tenure, he led the CFS through some of the worst fire seasons in the state’s history, which included devastating wildfires and emergencies. His leadership in South Australia was pivotal in driving legislative reforms and overseeing an improvement plan designed to address critical issues within the fire service.

Jones’ expertise extended beyond local leadership to the national level in Australia. From 2020 to 2022, he chaired the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) National Aerial Firefighting Centre Strategic Committee.

Through his career, Jones has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to improving wildfire management and ensuring the safety of communities affected by rural fires.