Prof. Dr. Dragi Dimitrievski, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food-Skopje, North Macedonia

Title: From Support to Resurgence – A Vision for the Macedonian Agri-Food Sector

Prof. Dr. Dragi Dimitrievski is a full professor at the Institute of Agricultural Economics at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food-Skopje, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, and a former Vice-dean for sciences (2003-2005) and former Dean of the Faculty (2009-2017). His research interests and contributions include applied macro-economic analysis in the field of agriculture, with focus on agricultural and rural development policy. Dr. Dragi Dimitrievski is key national expert for agricultural policy and has been actively involved as researcher in different national and international projects related to agricultural and rural development policy analysis. For almost two decades, he is national expert within the Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group in South Eastern Europe (SWG). Dr. Dragi Dimitrievski is regularly being consulted on different important issues regarding the agricultural economics, so as a leader of various national projects, he contributed to development of significant number of strategic and legal documents regarding agricultural policy and rural development. His contribution is especially evident during the food crises due to the Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, both as support to the policy makers, but also to media to update the public with reliable and thorough information regarding food security issues. All his knowledge and experience in this field he transfers to students through courses in Agricultural Policy that he lectures at all three study cycles, as well as in the course Human Resources Development on the undergraduate studies. Dr. Dragi Dimitrievski has published more than 100 articles in academic journals and international conference proceedings, as well as chapters in different monographs and two textbooks in the field.

Prof. Dr. Hossein Azadi, Department of Geography, Ghent University, Belgium

Title: Tipping Points and Resilient Agriculture: How Climate-Smart Agriculture Can Support Small-Scale Farmers

Prof. Dr. Hossein Azadi obtained his first PhD in agricultural economics and the second in human geography. He is currently a professor at Ghent University in Belgium. He has published about 500 journal articles with +13000 citations and h-index of 60 underscoring him as top 3% global scientist ranked by AD Scientific index. His main focus is on land governance, the impacts of climate change on small-scale farmers, and agroecology. He is a member of the editorial boards in Land Use Policy, Land Degradation & Development, Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, and Climatic Change. He also serves as a research project evaluator for several international councils and organizations.

Prof. Dr. Cecilia Costa, CREA, Italy

Title: The most essential of all agricultural activities: apiculture

Dr. Cecilia Costa holds a degree in Agricultural Science and a PhD in Agricultural Biotechnologies. She is a Principal Researcher at CREA, the Italian Agricultural Research Council, where she has led research for over two decades on honey bee breeding and the biodiversity of Apis mellifera. Her work emphasizes disease resistance, genotype–environment interactions, and colony health and welfare. Dr. Costa is an active member of the COLOSS Association for the prevention of honey bee colony losses and currently coordinates an EU Horizon project. She has authored approximately 70 scientific publications and is a frequent invited lecturer at national and international apicultural and scientific events.