Invited speakers

Prof. Stefania De Pascale graduated (BSc & MSc) in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Naples (Italy) and in Landscape Architecture (MSc) at the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy). She is full Professor of Horticulture and Floriculture at the University of Naples Federico II. She teaches in courses on Crop physiology, Greenhouse horticulture and Landscaping and supervises BSc, MSc and PhD students. Short intensive courses on greenhouse horticulture and crop physiology have been taught in different countries. Her research interests are focused on abiotic stress adaptation in plants, water and nutrients management of horticultural crops in field and greenhouse production, organic horticulture and postharvest physiology. Recent research activities regard the functional biology of water and salt stress adaptation in plants, the influence of pre- and postharvest conditions on nutritional composition of vegetables, the sustainability of protected cultivation and the setup of a Bioregenerative Life Support System based on the use of higher plants for food and oxygen production, CO2 regeneration and water purification. In these research fields, she coordinated several research projects and is author of many technical and scientific papers (more than 200) and book chapters in Italian and in English.

Prof. Stefania De Pascale was Convener of the Greensys2007 ISHS International Conference on High Technology for Greenhouse System Management and of the ISHS International Symposium on New Technologies in Protected Cultivation that was held in Brisbane, Australia in 2014 during the International Horticultural Congress. She has also taken part in many ISHS international symposia as invited speaker (e.g. Greensys2004 - International Conference on Sustainable Greenhouse Systems. September 12-16, 2004, Leuven, Belgium; International Workshop on Greenhouse Environmental Control and Crop Production in Semi-Arid Regions, October 20-24, 2008, Tucson, Arizona, USA; International Symposium on Strategies Toward Sustainability of Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climate, April 6-11, 2008, Antalya, Turkey; Greensys2009 - International Symposium on High Technology for Greenhouse Systems, June 14-19, 2009, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; Greensys2011 - International Symposium on Advanced Technologies and Management towards Sustainable Greenhouse Ecosystems, June 5-10, 2011, Halkidiki, Greece).

Prof. Stefania De Pascale was Chair of the thematic group “Technologies, Material and Microgravity” of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and was Chair of the Floriculture and Ornamental Plants Section of the Italian Society for Horticultural Science (SOI). She is a member of the Management Committee of COST Action FA0901: Putting Halophytes to Work - From Genes to Ecosystems. She acts as a consultant of the FAO working group Plant Production and Protection Division (AGP) and of the National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension (NCARE). She is reviewer and co-editor for Italian and international journals. She also acts as a referee, an external expert or a consultant for the Italian Ministry of University and Research, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the EU.

From July 2013 Prof. Stefania De Pascale is Chair of the Italian Society for Horticultural Science.

Last August - at the IHC2014 in Brisbane - she came into office as the new Chair of the Commission Protected Cultivation of the ISHS.

Dr. Silke Hemming, born 03.06.1970 in Düsseldorf, Germany has studied Horticultural Sciences at the University of Hanover, Germany. She got her phD at the University of Hanover in 1998, completing a thesis with the title ”The effect of photoselective greenhouse covering materials on ornamental plants”. Since 1999 she works at Wageningen University and Research Centre at different institutes in different positions. First as junior researcher at IMAG (1999-2003), as researcher at Agrotechnology and Food Sciences Group (2003-2005) and since 2005 at Plant Sciences Group (2005-2011). Since 2007 she is head of the scientific research team Greenhouse Technology within Wageningen UR.

Silke Hemming is a well known expert on the field of novel greenhouse design concepts and modern greenhouse coverings. She is leader of the ISHS (International Society of Horticultural Sciences) scientific working group “Light in Horticulture”. She conducts several international research projects on greenhouse systems in different climate zones world-wide, designed greenhouse concepts for tropical lowland areas in Indonesia, sub-tropical climate of Taiwan, sustainable greenhouses for semi-arid climates in Turkey, net covered structures for Mediterranean Areas and several energy saving greenhouse concepts in The Netherlands. Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture hosts the Innovation and Demonstration Centre of Energy (IDC Energy) with research on new energy saving greenhouse crop production systems at their location in Bleiswijk. Every year new concepts are developed together with industrial partners and demonstrated.

Silke Hemming will give a keynote lecture with the title “Innovations in greenhouse systems – energy conservation by system design, sensors and decision support systems“.

Dr. Esteban José Baeza Romero has a PhD on Agronomic Engineering by the University of Almería (2007). Nowadays he holds a post-doc position in the Physiology and Protected Crop Technology in the IFAPA (Institute for Research and Training in Agriculture and Fisheries of Andalucía) Center La Mojonera in Almería. Before that, he worked as a researcher in the Greenhouse Technology Department of the Experimental Station Las Palmerillas of Cajamar from 2000 to 2011.

His research activity has been focused on the field of greenhouse technology for different climates, with special attention to the Mediterranean region. His main fields of research range from the modeling and improvement of greenhouse natural ventilation systems (using different techniques such as Computational Fluid Dynamics), design of new greenhouse prototypes, testing of greenhouse covering materials, testing of different greenhouse cooling and heating techniques, development of new greenhouse concepts (heat storage, semi-closed greenhouses, etc.), CO2 enrichment, greenhouse climate modeling and use of renewable energies in the greenhouse, amongst others. He has participated in 11 research projects funded from regional, national or European institutions. He is co-author of 11 peer reviewed papers, 7 chapters in specialized books, 56 contributions to national and international workshops and symposia (9 times as invited speaker), a patent and a large number of participations in national and international courses and seminars. In 2006 he was the secretary of the International Symposium on Greenhouse Cooling organized under the umbrella of the ISHS. He has translated from Spanish to English the book "Invernaderos de plástico: Tecnología y Manejo" (I.S.B.N.-10:84-8476-321-8, ISBN 13:978-84¬8476-321-5, whose author is Nicolás Castilla Prados; English versión entitled “Greenhouse Technology and Management” (ISBN-13: 978-1780641034 ISBN-10: 1780641036 published by CAB International in 2012). He is a usual reviewer for different Journals such as Biosystems Engineering, Building and Environment and Acta Horticulturae, amongst others. He has directed one Agronomic Engineering end of Degree Project and has been 3 times a member of a PhD tribunal.