YA Regional Ambassadors

AESOP YA Regional Ambassadors are 20 long-term members selected for 2-year terms. The goal is reaching a more geographically equal representation and presence in all countries and regions. 

These Regional Ambassadors help developing regional and national networks and events and establish the first Europe-wide planning students’ association database. 

Three key objectives are:
1. Internationalisation of European students and spatial planning courses 
2. Creating awareness of the challenges and opportunities that spatial planning face in their career
3. Networking across Europe, from the North to the South, from the West to the East

/Agnes%20Matoga
Regional Ambassador to Western Europe
Agnes Matoga is a researcher at KIT, Germany working on innovative forms of Governance and the role of active citizenship. Her research interests include reviving shrinking cities through experimental approaches, innovative and participative methods in urban research and the effects of the European Green Deal on the housing market. Agnes holds a Master's degree from University of Vienna and is currently finishing her PhD at RPTU.
/Alice%20Borsari
Regional Ambassador to Southern Europe
Alice Borsari
Urban Planner and Junior Researcher in Eurac Research at the Urban and Regional Energy Systems (URS) group. Her fields of work are mainly related to Urban Health through the design of sustainable settlement systems, with a solid background on climate change adaptation, Nature Based solutions (NBS) and multiple benefits analysis. She is contributing on different EU Projects, ans she is also Co-Project Manager of the PLENTY Life EU Project.
/Aoife%20Doyle
Regional Ambassador to the British Isles & Nordics
Aoife Doyle is currently an Associate Director (Planning & Research) with KPMG Future Analytics in Dublin, Ireland. She successfully defended her employment based PhD in 2019 (under the co-supervision of TU Dublin and Future Analytics Consulting). The thesis stemming from this is entitled 'Planning for Resilient Urban Development Projects: Navigating Change in the Dublin Docklands'. She served as part of the AESOP YA Coordination Team between 2016-2018.
/Dakota
Regional Ambassador to Overseas
Dakota is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Incheon National University, using machine learning techniques to develop smarter urban planning strategies. His technical expertise and passion for urban planning drive him to uncover new insights and generate innovative solutions to complex problems. Inspired by mathematician Hannah Fry, Dakota questions assumptions and embraces the philosophy of "99% invisible" for effective solutions.
/David%20Akinwamide
Regional Ambassador to the British Isles & Nordics
David Akinwamide holds a B.tech and M.tech in Estate Management. Currently, a fully funded PhD research student at the Edinburgh Napier University, UK; focusing on real estate in the metaverse. His a recipient of African Illustrious Award of excellence and special recognition in the built environment. He has presented his research work across the world with some published research works (including peer review article journals, conference proceedings, and book chapter) to his credit.
/Federico%20Camerin
Regional Ambassador to Southern Europe
Awarded with a double title of PhD in the frame of the European Joint Doctorate "urbanHist", I am currently post-doc researcher at the Universidad de Valladolid – Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Research Group: Grupo de Investigación en Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Sostenibilidad, GIAU+S). My research interest focuses on urban renewal/regeneration and urban history since the mid-19th century.
/Ghazal%20Etminan
Regional Ambassador to Central and Eastern Europe
Ghazal Etminan
Ghazal Etminan, Senior Research Engineer and International Business Developer at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology since 2015. Her role involves project management, strategic advice on sustainable urban development for ministries, municipalities, and private institutions. She's instrumental in European and international smart city projects, with extensive knowledge of RDI policies.
/Lara
Regional Ambassador to Southeastern Europe
As an Istanbul-based Urban Planner holding a B.Sc. from ITU, Lara focuses on the circular economy, urban politics and sustainable development. She won several awards, including Prof. Dr. Gunduz Ozdes and MARUF’21 Marmarathon 1st Prize Award. She gained experience at Group Aarti, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and ITU Research Center. Besides being a regional ambassador of AESOP YA, she is currently an urban designer and one of the Youth Committee Members of the ITU Foundation Journal.
/Lucia
Regional Ambassador to Southern Europe
Lucia
Dr. Lucia Cerrada Morato is an architect, urban planner and academic. Lucia’s research interest includes the relational geographies of urban and suburban development, with a particular attention to the governance of the (re)production of infrastructures such as water, sanitation and social housing. She has international teaching and research experience with various institutions in Spain and the UK. Lucia joined the public sector in 2017 and has worked in public policy, regeneration and planning.
/Matina
Regional Ambassador to Southeastern Europe
Im a creative and versatile Architect / Urban Designer with extensive expertise in architecture, design, construction, urban planning and implementation. I am currently pursuing my doctoral studies at the Department of Urban and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, and my research focuses on regeneration on public urban spaces and historic centres. I have several years of experience working in the construction industry and I am fluent in three languages (English, French, Italian).
/Muzaffer%20Ali%20Arat
Regional Ambassador to Southeastern Europe
Muzaffer Ali Arat is an urban morphologist and urban planner. He is an Integrated PhD Researcher at CITTA research centre at University of Porto. He is also Research Assistant at Konya Technical University. He has an MSc in urban and regional planning, and PhD in Spatial Planning at University of Porto. His research areas are urban morphology, urban planning and cities; specifically the method of morphological regionalisation, fringe belt analysis, urban conservation, urban form and change
/Nikola%20Mitrović
Regional Ambassador to the Balkans
Nikola Mitrović is an architect and Ph.D. student. As a Junior Researcher at the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Architecture, his research is based on the connection between urban studies, human geography and security theory to analyse liminal pedestrian spaces, especially as a part of the post-socialist system. He has started to publish the results of his research at conferences, and participate in international research projects. He has experience in various international workshops.
/Stefan%20Lazarevski
Regional Ambassador to the Balkans
I am an urban planner and researcher, with just over 10 years of professional experience in statutory planning and urban design on projects ranging in scale and complexity. I hold a Masters degree in urban studies from the Bauhaus University in Weimar and currently, I'm pursuing PhD degree at the TU Wien, with focus on spatial and regional planning, urban systems and governance concepts. I am, also external teaching assistant at the Faculty of Architecture in Skopje.
/Zeqiang%20Pan
Regional Ambassador to Western Europe
Zeqiang did his Master in 2017 on collaborative watershed management in the Pearl River Delta City of China. In 2021, he became a PhD candidate in the Department of Planning and Environment in the Faculty of Spatial Science, University of Groningen. His on-going research has focused on the interdependency of local authorities and local communities in community-based urban flood risk management: what role do they play, how they get relate to each other, and the conditioning of synergy.
Regional Ambassador to Overseas
I am a Post-doc fellow at the Urban Just Transitions cluster of the University of Toronto (Canada) with research interests in the community's role in the environmental planning. I earned a Ph.D. at the University of Catania (Italy). I have been a C.M.Lerici foundation fellow at Environmental Humanities Lab (KTH, Stockholm) and a Fulbright visiting fellow at University of California Santa Barbara. Between 2020-2022 I have been an elected member of the AESOP YA coordination team 2020-2022.
Regional Ambassador to Central and Eastern Europe
Regional Ambassador to the Balkans
Regional Ambassador to Central and Eastern Europe
Regional Ambassador to the British Isles & Nordics
Erika Meneses
Regional Ambassador to Western Europe
Liubov