Wilson Bley Lipski

Wilson Bley Lipski holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, graduating in 1991, and a postgraduate degree in Contemporary Law from the Brazilian Institute of Legal Studies (IBEJ/POSITIVO), completed in 1995. A practicing lawyer since 1991, his extensive career includes prominent positions such as CEO of the Southern Brazil Development Bank (BRDE) from 2019 to 2024, and Superintendent of the Paraná Social Service (PARANACIDADE) from 2013 to 2018. He served as Technical Advisor in the Federal Senate between 2011 and 2012 and as an Advisor in the Final Draft Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Paraná in earlier years. His contributions to the Paraná State Government are notable, having held the position of Secretary of State for Urban Development in 2010, as well as Director-General of the State Department of Urban Development from 2003 to 2010, and Board Member of the Paraná Development Agency in 2010. He has also held key roles on various state councils, including the Paraná State Environmental Council (2003-2010), the Paraná State Water Resources Council (2005-2010), and the Paraná State Cities Council, which he presided over from 2005 to 2010. At the municipal level, Lipski was Secretary of Economic Development and Tourism for the Municipality of Lapa from 2000 to 2002, in addition to presiding over the Lapa Development Company during the same period. His academic involvement includes serving as a Professor of Banking Law at the General Carneiro State School in Lapa in 1997. Over the years, he has led several impactful initiatives, notably coordinating the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th State Conferences of Cities and the Public Managers Training Program in Paraná, through which over 25,000 managers and public servants were trained between 2007 and 2010. His leadership extended to international missions, enabling public officials from Paraná to engage with local and regional development practices in France, Italy, and Spain. In 2010, he supervised the coordination of the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba and other metropolitan and administrative regions in Paraná, contributing significantly to the creation of the state's Urban Development Policy (PDU) and holding leadership roles within the Lapa Subsection of the Brazilian Bar Association.

André Bezerra dos Santos

Full Professor at the Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). He has a PhD in Environmental Sciences (Wageningen University, Netherlands, 2005), Master’s degree in Civil Engineering/Environmental Sanitation (UFC, Brazil, 2001), Specialization in Ecological Sanitation (Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden, 2008) and Degree in Civil Engineering with Magna distinction cum Laude (UFC, Brazil, 1998). He is a level 1B researcher at CNPq, with several national and international awards. It participates in/coordinates national and international research projects, such as, some of which are currently prominent, the Research Network on emerging technologies for sewage treatment through aerobic granulation and photobioreactors (TrataRe+, coordinator), National Institute of Science and Technology in Sustainable Sewage Treatment Plants (INCT ETEs Sustainable, deputy-coordinator), Research and innovation network in renewable energies in Ceará (Rede Verdes, member) and Research network for monitoring antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antimicrobial resistance genes in sewage (ReViRAE, deputy coordinator ). He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (Revista ESA) of the Brazilian Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (ABES), Editor-in-Chief of the Technical Bulletins in Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (CTESA) of ABES, Associate Editor of the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (Elsevier) and Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste (ASCE). He is also a member of the editorial or ad hoc board of relevant Sanitary and Environmental Engineering journals or national and international funding agencies. He has worked mainly in domestic and industrial sewage treatment, bioenergy, environmental biotechnology, reuse, resource recovery, solid waste, environmental studies, basic sanitation management, and sewage-based epidemiology. He has also been a consultant for public and private companies for almost 25 years.

Darja Istenič

Darja Istenič, PhD, is an assistant professor in the field of environmental engineering at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering and the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She started her career in the private sector with research and development of treatment wetlands for wastewater treatment in small communities, nature-based solutions for stormwater treatment and revitalisation of water bodies. At the University, she focuses her research on resource recovery from wastewater through nature-based solutions such as zero discharge willow systems, algae technologies and green walls. She also studies water management in urban catchments and is involved in national and international research projects and consultancy. She is an active member of the International Water Association (IWA) Resource Oriented Sanitation Working Group, the International Ecological Engineering Society (IEES), the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) and the Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE). Within GWP CEE, she leads the Sustainable Sanitation Task Force - a working group that includes small-scale sanitation experts from the region and manages an online Community of Practice for Nature-based Solutions in water management.