Mihaela Vasilescu – Associate Professor, Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Ecological University of Bucharest
Mihaela Vasilescu is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Ecological University of Bucharest, Romania. She is also the Coordinator of the Master Programme “Environmental Impact Assessment.” Previously, she worked as a Senior Scientist Chemist and Head of the National Reference Laboratory for the Surveillance of Water Quality at the National Institute of Public Health of Romania. She is an experienced trainer in national and international projects, a team leader, and has published numerous articles and books. She holds a Ph.D. in Medicine.
Bistra Mihaylova – Project Manager, Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF)
Bistra Mihaylova is a Project Manager at Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), where she has been supervising the portfolio on water and sanitation, chemicals, health, and gender since 2005. Bistra has long-lasting experience in implementing environmental projects in the countries of the Balkan, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia regions. The projects she managed have largely improved the condition of local communities about water and sanitation and serve as a model for replication on both regional and national levels. Bistra has experience in the construction of urine-diverting toilets (Ecosan), greywater filters, and constructed wetlands, and has also worked with UN Women on gender and climate change-related issues. She has degrees from the Sofia University in Bulgaria, and Technical University Munich in Germany.
Kate Medlicott – Technical Officer, World Health Organization (WHO)
Kate Medlicott is the Sanitation and Wastewater Team leader within the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Health (WASH) team at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Within this role, Kate is responsible for three WHO guidelines (sanitation and health, safe use of wastewater, and recreational water quality) and global monitoring of wastewater under the sustainable development goals on (SDG 6.3.1) as well as cross-sectoral collaborations where sanitation is a critical component of disease control (including WASH and neglected tropical diseases and environmental aspects of AMR). Kate’s publications relate mostly to the effectiveness of sanitation interventions and wastewater treatment and safe use. Kate’s studies are in the field of environmental engineering, and before joining WHO HQ, she worked mostly in developing countries on WASH programmes.
Bharti Kannan – Founder, Boondh
Bharti Kannan is the Founder of Boondh, a social enterprise that works on menstrual literacy, policy, advocacy, activism, and Sustainable Products. She is an engineer and a student of social science passionate about working on public health and gender. Bharti is based in Bengaluru, India and is responsible for programs, product and content development, finance and overall operations at Boondh.
The webinar will be moderated by Birguy Lamizana, Programme Management Officer, UN Environment and Riccardo Zennaro, Associate Programme Officer, UN Environment.
Birguy Lamizana has more than 20 years of working experience in the field of ecosystems and water management, environmental impacts assessments, community involvement, and capacity building related to integrated water resources management. Before joining UNOPS in 2009, and UN Environment in 2012, Birguy served as Coordinator of the IUCN West Africa Regional Wetlands and Water Resources Programme. She was also the Regional Coordinator for the Global Water Partnership (GWP), and Technical Advisor for the Water Partnership Programme Trust Fund of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Birguy is currently Programme Management Officer in charge of wastewater management at UN Environment.
Riccardo Zennaro is an Associate Programme Officer for wastewater management at UN Environment in Nairobi, Kenya. Passionate about water and sanitation, he has previously worked with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna and Belgrade on environmental co-operation, water management, and environmental governance. He has also worked with the European Commission in Brussels on energy and water, with UN Environment on freshwater, and with an Italian NGO on water supply and food security in Tanzania. Riccardo has a Master’s degree in Environmental Technology and International Affairs from the Vienna University of Technology and Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Austria.