Balbina Gluza-Czyczerska
Coordinator of the Just Transition Platform, European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy
Balbina Gluza-Czyczerska
Coordinator of the Just Transition Platform, European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy
Balbina Gluza-Czyczerska is a Coordinator of the Just Transition Platform, European Commission, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy
Since 2021, Balbina has been leading the Just Transition Platform at the European Commission. She is an expert in sustainable development, cohesion policy, and the Just Transition Fund, with nearly twenty years of experience in European affairs.
Between 2014 and 2021, she worked in the Secretariat-General of the European Commission, in the team responsible for investigating infringements of EU law, and from 2011 to 2014 in the Directorate-General for Employment.
In her current role at the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, she supports EU regions on their path towards climate neutrality.
Brina Lazar
Undersecretary at the Secretariat of the Development Council of Cohesion Region Vzhodna Slovenija / Eastern Slovenia at the Ministry for Cohesion and Regional Development in Slovenia
Brina Lazar
Undersecretary at the Secretariat of the Development Council of Cohesion Region Vzhodna Slovenija / Eastern Slovenia at the Ministry for Cohesion and Regional Development in Slovenia
Brina Lazar has served as the Undersecretary at the Secretariat of the Development Council of Cohesion Region Vzhodna Slovenija / Eastern Slovenia at the Ministry for Cohesion and Regional Development in Slovenia since 2021.
Her professional background is primarily focused on developing regions, just transition, cohesion policy, and sustainable development, including circular and bio-economy initiatives.
Her extensive participation in EU-funded projects, including roles as project manager at the lead partner, project partner, stakeholder, and adviser, has provided her with deep insight into EU legislation, project management, diverse thematic areas, and valuable learning opportunities.
Graduating from the Law Faculty of Maribor provides the foundational basis for her strong legislative understanding, "outside the box" thinking, and diligence in her work.
Erblin Berisha
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
As a member of the International Advisory Board of BiH SuTra, Erblin´s work is grounded in the field of just green transitions, particularly in contexts marked by socio-political complexity, such as the Western Balkans. Drawing on recent research, Erblin contributes to addressing conceptual ambiguities and advancing theoretical clarity around sustainability justice.
His engagement also builds on efforts to promote an inclusive green agenda that ensures equitable participation, social cohesion, and fair distribution of transition benefits. Within BiH SuTra, Erblin aims to support the co-production of knowledge, foster cross-sector dialogue, and encourage evidence-based policymaking aligned with both local realities and European green transition pathways.
He sees this project as a vital platform for shaping a just sustainability transformation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ensuring that environmental progress goes hand in hand with social justice and democratic empowerment.
Dr. Ingeborg Niestroy
Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS)
Dr Ingeborg Niestroy has worked for over 20 years in environmental policy and governance for sustainable development, at the interface of science, policy, and society – at national, subnational, and EU levels, in Europe and internationally. She was the executive director of EEAC, the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils and expanded the network to neighbouring countries. Since 2019, she has been with the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) in Germany, first with the Science Platform Sustainability 2030, then leading the EU Horizon 2020 project REAL-DEAL (with pilots in Serbia and North Macedonia), collaborating with researchers and civil society organisations on the nexus of democracy and sustainability. She continues this focus in a new project, Scaledem - Scaling Democratic Innovations.
Ingeborg is co-founder of the think tank Public Strategy for Sustainable Development (PS4SD), where she has led various studies and projects, often with a comparative perspective of countries and at different levels, such as for the European Parliament (2019): Europe's approach to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, including in the Western Balkan region. She is currently an expert in a JRC study on the implementation of SDGs in 20 European regions.
Masha Smirnova
Head of Governance and Just Transition at Eurocities
Masha Smirnova is Head of Governance and Just Transition at Eurocities. She has 15 years of experience in project management, policy development, and international advocacy on health, social policy, and the climate transition.
At Eurocities, she worked on the European Green Deal and related climate and energy portfolios, with a strong focus on their social and distributional aspects. She also led capacity-building and peer-learning initiatives between EU/EEA and enlargement cities on sustainability and climate-resilient urban transitions.
Previously, she worked on civil society initiatives in health, social policy, and environmental justice, and as a research consultant on collaborative health projects, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Masha holds a Master’s degree in Health Management from the University of Applied Sciences Krems, Austria, and a Master’s degree in International Politics from the University of Manchester, UK.
Banovici
Breza
Gacko
Gradiška
Kakanj
Ugljevik
Živinice
Ministarstvo vanjske trgovine i ekonomskih odnosa BiH
Stockholm Environment Institute
Sweden