These are the contributors to the GDC blog, professors, assistants and students.

1. about
e-mail
Professor of social and economic geography. Research topics:
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West-European cities & Brussels
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Chinese cities
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Socio-spatial structures
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Housing
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Poverty
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Ethnic minorities
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Land reforms
prof chris kesteloot
Chris.Kesteloot@ees.kuleuven.
Professor physical geography; specialist in soil erosion, hillslope hydrology,
desertification, soil erosion control as well as soil and water conservation
practices.
jean.poesen@ees.kuleuven.
prof jean poesen

2. about
e-mail
Doctoral Researcher. Research Associate of CIMMYT, Int (International
Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) and K.U.Leuven. My research is
based on sustainable and resilient cropping systems.
RICARDO ROMERO PEREZGROVAS
rromeropg@gmail.com
Doctoral researcher in social geography at KULeuven. My research is on
creative participation in urban planning and design. Architect/urbanist by
education.
tim.devos@ees.kuleuven.be
tim devos

3. about
e-mail
I am Sajjad Saeed. I completed my PhD from Max Planck Institute for
Meteorology Hamburg, Germany in November 2011 and joined KU Leuven
in January 2012. I am a climate scientist working on MACCBET project. The
aim of the MACCBET project is to establish projections of future climate and
air quality for Belgium, at an unprecedented spatial resolution, and using the
latest insights and parameterizations of processes affecting regional climate
and atmospheric composition. A detail description of MACCBET project is
available at http://ees.kuleuven.be/maccbet/index.html
dr. sajjad saeed
Sajjad.Saeed@ees.kuleuven.
Background in Bio-science engineering and anthropology. Currently working
as a PhD student on resilience strategies for landslides in the Central African
region.
Jan.Maes@ees.kuleuven.
jan maes

4. about
e-mail
My name is Tomas Ambra and I come from Slovakia. After participating
in a course at Utrecht University which was based on innovations for a
sustainable future, I decided to pursue my career in sustainable logistics. Main
focus of my thesis would be on a correlation between environment and
logistics where innovations and recommendations would be proposed in
order to mitigate negative impact of NOx and SOx gasses in the atmosphere.
Therefore I have chosen to proceed my studies in Belgium since it has a
complex interconnected logistic network where the gas concentration rates
are rather high. Besides these negative factors, Belgium is a lovely country
and I enjoy living here.
tomas ambra
tomas.amper@gmail.com
My name is Marta Avesani , I am 23 years old and I come from Italy. I
graduated in Development Cooperation at Università degli Studi di Padova
(Padua, Italy) with a thesis on the use of Peruvian Migrants’ remittances. I did
my internship for the Italian NGO “Fratelli dell’Uomo” (part of the European
Group “Frères des Hommes”) and I spent 6 weeks in Peru for studying one
of its projects concerning migration and development. During my Italian part
of the internship I also became deeply interested in enterprise sustainability
and ethics and I really would like to have further experiences as well as
finding my future job in this field.
After my bachelor I therefore decided to focus on sustainability issues
applying to the Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Sustainable Territorial
Development (EM STeDe).The Master is giving me the opportunity to study
in a stimulating international and intercultural environment. So, after my first
semester in Padua again, here I am for my second semester at KULeuven
(Belgium).
marta.avesani@gmail.com
marta avesani

5. about
e-mail
Hello, my name is Bert Stevens, 21 years old and born and raised in Belgium.
I’m currently in my first masteryear of the programme “Tropical Natural
Ressources management” at the university of KULeuven, a division of the
Bioscience engineering programme. My major focusses on tropical soils and
how to correctly manage and conserve them. I already conducted some
fieldwork in Africa (Kenia) as part of my study programme. Helping developing
countries find new methods to boost soil fertility and plant production is
what I want to do in life. Please contact me if you have questions or study
related opportunities! Greetings, Bert
bert stevens
bert.stevens@student.kuleuven.be
Hello my name is Emmanuelle Genest, I’m 21 years old and I’m French. I
graduated last year in economics from Paris 1 - La Sorbonne. I spent one
year in Poland during my bachelor degree, in Krakow, where I also studied
economics. I discovered there the benefits of studying in another country with
people from all around the world. As I wanted to continue this experience I
applied for the Erasmus Mundus master, SteDe. I got accepted and I started
to study this year sustainable territorial development. I really enjoy being in a
multicultural environment and learn from each other experiences. I’m really
much interested in topics related to rural development and agriculture. I’m
planning to do my internship next year in this field.
emmanuelle.genest@gmail.com
emmanuelle genest

6. about
e-mail
Hi, my name is Lucie Cizkova and I come from central Europe –Czech
Republic. I study Geography and regional development at University of
Ostrava. I´m focusing mainly on regional problems of small regions of Czech
Republic and specially on my region of Moravian and Silesian. I came here
to Belgium for one year study Erasmus program. I would like to gain more
knowledge about other perspectives of geography and subsequently use
this new knowledges to improve my master thesis.
lucie cizkova
c.lucka@seznam.cz
Karina Azar. I was born in Colombia and like every citizen of my country, I
am a huge passionate about anything and everything Colombian. I graduated
from International Relations and started working for diplomat bodies such
as the French Embassy in Colombia, and in my city’s economic development
agency, ProBarranquilla, for over 4 years doing consultant related activities. I
am interested on any topics on the field of Foreign Direct Investment and
Exports Promotion. However, since my work experience has been focused
mainly on the economic sphere of Sustainable Development -SD, I started
exploring more about the social and environmental parts of SD. Because of
this, I decided to leave my beautiful country for 2 years to study the Erasmus
Mundus Masters on Sustainable Territorial Development, STeDe.
karinaazarb@gmail.com
karina azar

7. about
e-mail
Hello, I am Trui Van Ackere, a student from Belgium. Last year I graduated in
International Politics at the University of Ghent. For my thesis, I worked on
financial mechanisms for humanitarian aid. Especially the costs and benefits
of pooled funding for NGOs was my primary focus. During my last year in
Ghent, I understood that I lacked international experience. Also I wanted to
look at developing countries from a more constructive point of view. That’s
why I enrolled in an Erasmus Mundus in Sustainable Territorial Development,
which I am truly enjoying. For my thesis and internship in the year to come,
there are still a lot of ideas floating in my head, but a big chance that it will
be dealing with the sustainability of our economical (aid) system and the
consequences for the developing world.
trui van ackere
truivanackere@hotmail.com
I’m Tomasz from Poland. I did bachelor in Geodesy and Cartography in
Kraków. I spent one semester on erasmus exchange in Finland. Here in
Belgium I’m doing my master in Geography (specialisation GIS and Spatial
Modelling). I love Leuven and students here :) Hobbies: travelling, languages,
photography, sport.
tnowacki90@hotmail.com
tomasz nowacki

8. about
e-mail
My name is Ida Carlsson and I come from Göteborg, Sweden. I have a
bachelor’s degree in Rural Development from SLU (Swedish University of
Agricultural Sciences) with a special focus on gender and sustainability issues.
I wrote my bachelor thesis about migration patterns of men and women in
the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, especially focusing on identity formation in
relation to the local village and its history. I have a strong interest in politics
and feminist theory, which I stubbornly try to combine with my current
master studies in Geography at KU Leuven and VUB (Brussels). I am in my
second semester of the program and will hopefully carry out the research
for my master’s thesis about feminist immigrant (Moroccan) movements in
Belgium and Sweden.
ida carlsson
i.carlsson@hotmail.com
Hi I’m Charlie Flasse, and I’m British! I did a bachelors in Environmental
Science at the University of Southampton, and since then I have moved
to Belgium and have had some work experience in mapping land cover
from satellite images and have taken an introductory course in international
development. Now I’m on the master in Geography program in Leuven. I
like to learn about the world both socially and environmentally, and I would
like to combine these with working with developing countries, GIS and
satellite image analysis. My Masters thesis will look at land cover changes of
a forest in Ethiopia in the past decades and the social factors behind these
changes.
cflasse@gmail.com
charlie flasse

9. about
e-mail
My name is Gert De Schutter. My home country is Belgium. I am in the first
year of the master program Geography, specialisation Space and Society
at KU Leuven and VUB. I am interested in many themes related to global
power relations, development and inequality, but my thesis will be related to
the political geography of Belgium.
gert de schutter
gert.de.schutter@gmail.com
My name is Ksenia Kozhemyakina and I’m from Russia. I have a bachelor’s
degree in Political Science from PFUR (Peoples’ Friendship University of
Russia). At the same time I learnt Arabic language and spent some time in
Syria and Jordan. But after that I worked for the Moscow Government in
the agency related to the youth policy. During this experience I became
interested in the issues connected with sustainable development of the city
and that’s why I applied for Erasmus Mundus - STeDe. Now I’m interested
in the sustainable tourism and I think that my future thesis will be dealing
with this topic.
ksenia.dsmp@gmail.com
ksenia kozhemyakina

10. about
e-mail
My name is Ana Maria Rivero, I’m from Colombia, and I have a Bachelor
Degree in Political Science from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
I have work experience in the public sector as I worked for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Colombia in Diplomacy. I quitted the Ministry and I
decided to work in solidarity economy sector, designing and carrying out
Urban Agriculture programs, to ensure food security in marginal areas of my
city, Bogota. As I wanted to learn more about international cooperation for
sustainable agriculture projects I decided to apply to STeDe Erasmus Master
Course. My interest topics are rural development, international cooperation
and solidarity economy.
ana maria rivero
amari808@hotmail.com
My name is Marta Avesani , I am 23 years old and I come from Italy. I
graduated in Development Cooperation at Università degli Studi di Padova
(Padua, Italy) with a thesis on the use of Peruvian Migrants’ remittances. I did
my internship for the Italian NGO “Fratelli dell’Uomo” (part of the European
Group “Frères des Hommes”) and I spent 6 weeks in Peru for studying one
of its projects concerning migration and development. During my Italian part
of the internship I also became deeply interested in enterprise sustainability
and ethics and I really would like to have further experiences as well as
finding my future job in this field.
After my bachelor I therefore decided to focus on sustainability issues
applying to the Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Sustainable Territorial
Development (EM STeDe).The Master is giving me the opportunity to study
in a stimulating international and intercultural environment. So, after my first
semester in Padua again, here I am for my second semester at KULeuven
(Belgium).
mats.mees@student.kuleuven.
be
mats mees

11. about
e-mail
My name is Svongwa Nemadire. I am Zimbabwean. I have a BSc in
Environmental Science from the National University of Science and
Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe and an MSc in Environmental Policy from
Wageningen University. At KU Leuven, I am developing a research proposal
focusing on conflicts between wildlife conservation and natives who live
near parks in Zimbabwe.
svongwa nemadire
snemadire@gmail.com
Hi, my name is PHAM Huu Hieu, i’m come from Hanoi, Vietnam. I’m assitant
research on Faculty of Geography, Hanoi University of Science, VNU. My
background on BSc is Cartography, Remote Sensing and GIS. I has work on
some projects in my country about the impact of environmental change on
human life and the impact of sea level rise on the coastal zone. Now, with
matter thesis, i’d like to do with the change in the vegetation cover on the
higher region on the North of Vietnam. I like sport and travelling .
huuhieu87@gmail.com
pham huu hieu

12. about
e-mail
Hello, my name is Marek Putala. I come from Czech Republic. I´m on Erasmus
exchange programme here in Belgium at KU Leuven for one year. My home
university is University of Ostrava, where I study Geography and regional
development. I focus mainly on city development and regional policy of EU.
I´m writing my master thesis about international comparison of old industrial
regions, it was also one of the reasons why I chose Erasmus in Belgium.
marek putala
m.putala@centrum.cz
Hello, My name is Diana Martinez. I come from Quito, Ecuador. I obtained
my B.A in International Relations and Latin American Studies from
Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana . Additionally, I have an M.A.
in Development Studies with a specialization in Conflict, Reconstruction
and Human Security from Erasmus University of Rotterdam’s International
Institute of Social Studies. I am now in the Sustainable Territorial Development
M.A. program.
d.martinez.zurita@gmail.
diana martinez