FRESH THOUGHTS CONSULTING - Key Persons
Franziska Lotter is a researcher in the field of climate change adaptation, working for Fresh Thoughts since 2019. Current projects she is involved in focus on the impacts of climate change on tourism and possible adaptation strategies.
Franziska Lotter studied Geography at the University of Augsburg, where she focused on resources management and spatial planning. Furthermore, she researched environmental conflicts and regional influences as well as the consequences of a changing climate system. From autumn 2020 onward she continue d her studies in Geography in the Master´s programme at the University of Bonn.
From 2017 to 2019, she worked as a student trainee for the Ostallgäu region, where she initiated and implemented climate change mitigation projects with target groups ranging from companies and ho me owners to school children. She also supported the development of an adaptation strategy for the region in a broad participatory process. An internship at alpS in Innsbruck as part of the Erasmus programme enabled her to gain further experience in climate change adaptation by evaluating the outcomes of a funding programme in the province of Tyrol.
Job Titles:
- German PhD Environmental Planning Engineer
Guido Schmidt is a German PhD Environmental Planning Engineer, with 30 years of experience as a team leader, key expert, evaluator and project/portfolio manager for better understanding, preventing and/or solving water and environmental problems and conflicts.
He has also published books and technical articles, including several handbooks and analyses of good practice, and has co-organised and participated in about 200 seminars, workshops, master courses and conferences. In the past years he has been involved in the following key projects:
REGILIENCE (Resilience Strategies for Regions) (Since 2021). Client: European Commission, European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency. Role: Technical project coordinator. REGILIENCE is a Horizon 2020 Green Deal Coordination and Support Action (GA 101036560) that aims to foster the adoption and far-reaching dissemination of regional climate resilience pathways, following a demand-driven approach. The expertise and knowledge acquired, as well as the solutions available from Innovation Packages and other sources are thereby considered. Overall, almost 700 specific activities are planned with an estimated audience of 100,000 individuals, including 8 large network events, 52 workshops/webinars, 30 twinning s, 300 helpdesks, 10 testings, and 40 media activities.
Support to the Commission on water quantity management - follow up to the Fitness Check of EU water law conclusions, EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change and Common Implementation Strategy Work Programme for the water directives (2022-2024) (Since 2022). Client: European Commission, DG Environment. Role: Team leader. This project develops specific support for the EU action on water scarcity and droughts including the assessment and reporting of good practices on the implementation of ecological flows and water balances, water efficiency targets, climate adaptation in river basin management, costs and benefits of nature-based solutions for flood risk management, water allocation mechanisms and transboundary river basin management.
Support to developing the India-EU Water Partnership (2015-2020). Clients: AETS-Consultants and GIZ for the European Commission. Role: Team leader and Key Expert. The Partnership aims to facilitate a stronger involvement of the EU and its Member States (MS) together with the relevant Indian authorities for improving water management in India. Th e actions include the development of River Basin Management Plans, the establishment of ecological flows, better groundwater management, the improved collection and use of data, and the Clean Ganga initiative of the Indian Government. The establishment of a concrete example for EU-India relations involving enga gement of the EU and its MS as key players and acting in a coordinated and complementary manner aims to allow the replication of EU policies and best practices to facilitate opportunities on water issues for EU companies. Specific activities include the development of workshops, business meetings and fora.
Secretariat of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water (2012-2020). Client: European Commission, DG Environment. Role: Team leader. The overall objective of the EIP Water was to support and facilitate the development of innovative solutions to address the many water-related challenges Europe and the world are facing, as well as to support economic growth by bringing such solutions to the market. Our team supported the preparation of a Strategic Implementation Plan, the EIP Water governance structure and further analysis of barriers, as well as 29 Action Groups involving 600 partner organisations to develop, implement or commerciali se water innovation. We developed and maintained innovation and communication tools, such as an online marketplace, and organised four major conferences and meetings of different EIP entities.
Follow-up of the Implementation of EU Freshwater Policies and Assessment of RBMPs and FRMPs (2012-2020). Client: European Commission, DG Environment. Role: Principal expert. This project require d technical Secretariat Support to Working Groups under the WFD Common Implementation Strategy: "Programme of Measures" and "Ecological flows" to develop a European guidance document, as well as specific assessments of EU River Basin Management Plans, Flood Risk Management Plans and possible infringements of the WFD.
Mongolia: Implementing innovative approaches for improved water governance (2018-2022). Client: Asian Development Bank & Ministry of Environment and Tourism. This technical assistance to the Government of Mongolia 1) developed river basin policy recommendations, 2) implemented a capacity-building program for the river basin administration, and 3) defined and developed actions and approaches for better river basin management, including pilot projects for water security, addressing managed aquifer recharge, hydrometeorological monitoring, water pollution effluent monitoring and water pollution fee implementation. Fresh Thoughts was engaged as a Specialist for International Institutional Water Management and Capacity Development.
In the past few years, Guido has also worked on other topics such as the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem Nexus, Innovation, Ecosystems, Monitoring & Evaluation, Communications and Knowledge Management, SEA and EIA, Protected areas, Wetlands, Nature-based solutions, Due diligence, Risk Analysis, Supply chains, Rural Development, Public and stakeholder engagement, International Cooperation, etc. Guido Schmidt is fluent in English, German, and Spanish and has worked in Europe, Latin America, the MENA region and Asia with in-country expertise in the European Union, South-Eastern Europe, Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, India and Mongolia.
Jasmin Clare joined Fresh Thoughts Consulting in January 2024 and primarily works on Climate Change Adaptation.
Jasmin holds a master's degree in conservation and landscape planning from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), which she completed in 2023. Within her master's thesis she investigated so-called "Pro-Biodiversity Businesses" involved in alpine pasture management, preserving this unique landscape in the Carinthian-Slovenian Alps through their business activities. Pro-Biodiversity Businesses not only sustain biodiversity and support ecosystem service provision but also foster ecological connectivity. For her analysis she conducted an expert qualitative survey and derived management recommendations to maintain alpine pasture management in the respective region.
During her master's degree Jasmin did a traineeship at the Institute for Regional Development of EURAC Research in Bolzano, Italy, as part of the human-environmental interactions research group. Whilst gaining an insight into various tasks related to research and project work, she was involved in several projects the institute was working on and discovered her passion for research.
Before doing her master's degree at TUM, Jasmin completed her bachelor's degree in landscape planning and landscape architecture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). The topic of her bachelor's thesis addressed concepts of sustainability transformation at global and local scale in agriculture.
Besides being interested in environmental topics and ways to solve nowadays' challenges, Jasmin is a qualified ski instructor and enjoys outdoor activities.
Linda Romanovska is a Policy Expert at Fresh Thoughts Consulting in the field of adaptation to climate change.
Prior to joining Fresh Thoughts Linda, was a member of the EU adaptation policy team in DG Climate Action of European Commission, contributing to the development of the EU Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change.
During her studies for a M.Sc. in Engineering (Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning) Linda was involved in research projects revolving around adaptation to climate change, evidence-based environmental policy-making, sustainable energy planning, eco-labelling and sustainable development planning at Aalborg University (Denmark), Aberystwyth University (Wales), the University of Latvia (Latvia) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (Germany). She complemented this experience by completing a postgraduate course Building Resilience to Climate Change at th e United Nations University, Institute for Sustainability and Peace (Japan). Linda's master's thesis contribut ed to the novel research field of social capital as a factor of adaptive capacity by conducting two case studies in rural areas of Nepal.
Before speciali sing in environmental and climate matters, Linda's academic and career path involved nine years of experience in business administration and Corporate Account Manage ment in the IT&T industry. She holds a bachelor's degree in business management from the BA School of Economics and Finance in Latvia.
Furthermore, Linda has been continuously involved in development and global education matters in cooperation with Engineers without Borders and Global Education Network for Young Europeans on a voluntary basis.
A native Latvian, Linda is fluent in Latvian, English and Russian and has acquired a rich multicultural understanding through extended stays in 11 Eurasian countries.
Ms. Matauschek is the event and administration manager at Fresh Thoughts. She is involved in developing the Fresh Thoughts Event Team to provide various fora where policy and scientific research can meet. In addition, she is responsible for various administrative tasks.
From November 2010 to September 2011, she played a leading role in setting up the MBA Centre Vienna, organising language courses for business-English and capacity-building workshops on the US and Austrian culture. She was further responsible for organis in g cultural events for US interns.
From January 2009 to November 2010, Michaela Matauschek worked as Office Manager in the Vienna office of Ecologic Institute and supported the Ecologic Event Team. A native German speaker, she is fluent in English and has basic knowledge of French.
Before starting at Ecologic Institute, Michaela was employed in the hotel and banking sectors.
Job Titles:
- Senior Expert at Fresh Thoughts
Nike Sommerwerk is a Senior Expert at Fresh Thoughts with a focus on Water and Biodiversity. She is a German PhD Freshwater Ecologist with more than 20 years of - also international - research experience on the functioning, protection and quality classification of inland water ecosystems, human-ecosystem interactions and biodiversity monitoring.
Nikolaus Fleischmann is a senior expert for water-policy, -management and -research.
He works at the interface of research and consultancy and concentrates on knowledge transfer as well as the implementation of emerging technologies. As part of the EU Water Initiative (EUWI), he participate d in the transfer of RBM planning and EU WFD principles to developing countries. Within the EUWI he also developed and managed the information system as well as the web site (2003-2007, now hosted by the IRC). He centres his attention around the implementation of water policies, often in connection with the technical aspects of water quality description s, monitoring and reporting in water management. He was involved in the development of WFD compliant river basin management plans and monitoring networks in EU MS and beyond, always promoting a scientifically sound, transparent and participatory approach regarding the implementation of integrated water management. This specialisation in a wide range of water quality issues is the result of working in research concerning water pollution control, policy implementation, municipal water management, treatment plant design, control and optimisation for ten years, followed by activities as a water research and policy consultant in the EU, accession countries and in development cooperation.
Nuria Hernández-Mora is a Spanish senior water policy expert. She has a PhD in Geography from the University of Seville (Spain, 2015) and MS degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2001) and Cornell University (1995) in natural resources policy and administration. She has over 25 years of experience in research, consulting and project management on water policy and governance analysis, water planning, water scarcity and droughts, public participation and co-production processes, transparency in water management, water markets, urban water management and the human right to water. She has worked with non-profit organisations, universities and research institutions, as well as, local, regional and national administrations, the European Commission and the World Bank. She has excellent communication and writing skills, having published over 100 academic papers, book chapters, technical reports and media articles related to different aspects of water governance, and is an experienced public speaker and facilitator.
Tanya Milkova has an MSc in biology qualified in hydroecology with extensive experience in water management. She has been involved in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC since the establishment of the River Basin Directorates as competent authorities for water management in Bulgaria in 2002 and has participated in several projects in the field of water management. Tanya has played a leading role in human pressure and impact analyses for the Black Sea River Basin District, surface waters status assessment, and in the development of the WFD and MSFD monitoring programs as well as the MSFD Programme of measures in Bulgaria. She has extensive experience in licensing procedures for water use, wastewater discharge and under the IPPC Directive also with SEA and EIA.
She is an author of the national approaches for the classification of the SWB ecological status, the assessment of the impact of implement ing the RBMP measures, and the draft national approach of the human pressure and impact analyses concerning the elaboration of the second RBMPs in Bulgaria.
She is the initiator of key projects related to the implementation of the MSFD in Bulgaria, among which the most notable are:
Investigations on the State of the Marine Environment and Improving Monitoring Programs developed under the MSFD - ISMEIMP, Funded by European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (EEA FM) 2009-2014;
Implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in Bulgaria - Development of Programmes of Measures; funded by AAP of German Federal Environment Agency.
As an independent expert, Tanya has worked on the following topics in the past few years: Water Management, Biodiversity protection, Marine Strategy, Maritime Spatial Planning, Integration of Environmental related policies.
Teresa Geidel works in the field of water and environmental governance for Fresh Thoughts since 2020. She is in volved in different fields of environmental science and policymaking, and any project related to freshwater (management). Currently, she is work ing on a number of projects, ranging from a tool to identify maladaptation in the planning phase to studying institutional set-ups for nexus governance or understanding what enables and hinders river restoration measures in the Danube Basin.
Teresa holds an MA in Public Policy with a focus on Governance from the Central European University, Budapest and a bachelor's degree in integrated environmental science (Renewable Energy Technology and Policy) from Jacobs University Bremen. In both her Bachelor's and Master's thes es she conducted empirical research to better understand why sales of (single-use) bottled water are increasing in Germany despite the good quality of tap water and what role the deposit system may play.
Her interest in water-related topics was sparked during an internship on the Seelabor Plattform on Lake Stechlin and took shape in various papers for university and participation in additional online courses in transboundary water management and water integrity.
Thomas Dworak is the head of Fresh Thoughts Consulting GmbH. His current work Focuses on environmental protection with a main focus on marine and inland water, agriculture and climate change. He has worked on these issues in several EU countries, including Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Romania, UK, The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden as well as the Baltic- and the Danube region. Mr Dworak has also been working at the international level like in the Mekong Area, China, India and Iran. He has a long-standing record as a consultant to the European Commission (DG Environment, DG Research and DG Climate).
Mr Dworak has managed more than 50 projects ranging from small-scale with a very short intervention period to large-scale research projects. In the past years he has been involved in the following key topics:
Climate Change: Mr Dworak was the project leader for the German Research project "Time to Adapt" which was followed by a major conference under the German presidency in 2007. Since then, he has supported the EU Commission, the European Environmental Agency and the national government in developing this policy area further. For the European Commission he supported the development of the European Adaptation Strategy. Thomas Dworak is also one of the co-authors of various guidance documents such as "River Basin Management in a changing climate - a Guidance document", "Sharing of Best Practices on Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) in a Context of Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Areas", "Guidelines for regional adaptation strategies" and "Climate Change Adaptation in the German tourism sector". Mr Dworak also supported the development of the Adaptation Support Tool and the Urban Adaptation Support Tool available on the EU adaptation platform Climate Adapt. He is a member of the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Adaptation.
Implementation of EU Freshwater Policies: In particular the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive. Since 2006, Mr. Dworak has been working as a principle expert to the Commission at the EU level, providing technical support to various Working Groups under the WFD/FD Common Implementation Strategy. He was a permanent member of the expert group on Water and Agriculture. In the past, his work has covered the development of technical guidance for exemptions, climate change and water-friendly agriculture as well as specific assessments of EU River Basin Management Plans and possible infringements of the WFD. At the national level, he has supported the different stages of WFD implementation (e.g. defining exemptions, selecting cost-effective measures, strategic environmental assessment) in Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark and Sweden but also the overall coordination of the development of a river basin management plan (for Luxemburg, India).
Implementation of Marine Policies: Since 2012, Mr Dworak has expanded his focus from inland waters to the marine environment. He supported the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in Germany, Romania and Bulgaria and also coordinated the Support contract for activities related to the EU Policy on Integrated Coastal Management and Maritime Spatial Planning.
Thomas Dworak worked at the Ecologic Institute in Berlin from January 2003 to May 2007. After returning to Vienna in 2007, he opened the Ecologic office in Austria there and was its director from June 2007 to September 2010. During this time, he developed the office into a fully fledged SME with five employees.
Before joining the Ecologic Institute, Thomas Dworak worked at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in the research group "Eco-Efficiency & Sustainable Enterprises" and the Department for Climate Policy.
From 1994 to 2000, Thomas Dworak studied landscape architecture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (Austria) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Alnarp, Sweden. His studies focused on waste management and water protection. During this time, he worked as an intern for various companies in the United States. He additionally holds a certificate as a Waste Management Adviser under Austrian law.
Thomas Glößl is a researcher in the field of water and environmental governance, working for Fresh Thoughts since 2022. He deals with different projects concerning environmental science and water management.
Thomas studied Environment al and Sustainab ilit y Management at IMC FH in Krems, Austria, where his Master´s thesis focused on the implementation of energy communities in Austria. Currently, he is doing a Master´s program me at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. There, his focus is on water- and energy management.