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Our team
“Agriculture in Europe is vital. As an industry it provides essential food, fibre and fuel. It is a major contributor to the economy that supports our rural communities and thereby preserves our cultural heritage, traditions and landscapes.”
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Dr. Janez Potočnik
Dr. Janez Potočnik is the Chairman of the Board of the RISE Foundation. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (Ph.D. degree 1993). After a successful career starting in 1989 in Slovenia as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research and then Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (1994), he was appointed Head of Negotiating Team for Accession of Slovenia to the EU (1998). He was also Director of Government Office for European Affairs (2000), Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister (2001) and Minister responsible for European Affairs (2002).
In 2004 he joined the European Commission, first as ‘shadow’ Commissioner for Enlargement and then as Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. In 2010 Dr Potočnik became Commissioner for Environment. His term ended in November 2014 and he was then appointed for a three-year term as a member and Co-Chair of International resource Panel hosted by United Nations Environment Programme. In the same month he was also appointed as a Chairman of The Forum for the Future of Agriculture and RISE Foundation and a Member of the European Policy Centre’s Advisory Council.
Dr. Gabriele Sacchettini
Dr. Gabriele Sacchettini is a Project Manager at RISE since 2023. Holding a degree in Economic Social Sciences from the Università degli Studi di Firenze, after obtaining a Master SMEA in the management of the Agro-food sector, in 2014 he earned a Ph.D. from the doctoral school Agrisystem of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Piacenza (Italy).
From 2010 to 2015 he worked for the academic Think Tank on sustainable agriculture OPERA, first as “Policy and Communication Officer” in Brussels, then as social science “Research Fellow” in the headquarters of Piacenza (Italy). The focus was on the sustainable use of plant protection products in agriculture.
From 2016 to 2023, he was the “EU projects team coordinator” at the academic spin-off AEIFORIA leading the communication, dissemination and policy implications of several European projects (e.g. H2020, PRIMA, POR-FEARS, EMFF, ERASMUS+). At the same time, he worked as “Managing Director” at OpenTEA, a start-up company that he founded which provides support in project proposal setup and management together with communication and dissemination services. Main topics addressed included water scarcity, biodiversity conservation, circular economy, regenerative agriculture, the sustainable use of marine resources.
Dr. Laura Green
Dr. Laura Green joined the team as Project Officer at RISE in spring 2024. Laura has a diverse research background with over ten years of research experience in food systems, agricultural sustainability, resource efficiency and waste management. In 2018, she earned a DPhil (Ph.D.) in Archaeobotanical Analysis from the University of Oxford (UK), where she researched arable weed ecology and conducted field surveys across organic cereal farms in France and Morocco. She began her career in environmental sustainability in 2018, undertaking an internship at the UK non-profit Good Food Oxford. In this role, she supported the delivery of sustainable food advocacy campaigns, undertook qualitative research, and facilitated public engagement events.
From 2018 to 2021, she worked as a Research and Data Analyst at the Waste and Resources Research Programme (WRAP), a climate action NGO based in the UK. As part of the Policy Support team, she worked closely with UK governments to help deliver targets as set in the EU Circular Economy Package.
From 2021 to 2023, she was a Senior Climate and Sustainability Consultant at RSK ADAS, a leading UK agricultural consultancy. She was business lead for responsible sourcing projects in the agricultural supply chain, including food loss and waste, where she delivered sustainability projects for a wide range of clients. These included UK Governments, NGOs, retailers and the private sector, with projects featuring a wide spectrum of food sustainability topics, such as food waste reduction, biodiversity, carbon accounting, water use efficiency, soil health, and land use change.
Oscar de Muinck
Oscar de Muinck joined the RISE Foundation as a Research Intern in early 2024. Oscar holds two Bachelor’s degrees (BSc and BA) in Science and Innovation Management and History, both from Utrecht University. He is currently completing his MSc in Sustainability Business and Innovation.
Since beginning his internship, Oscar has focused on writing his Master’s thesis, which draws upon EU projects at RISE. His primary research question examines how key EU stakeholders perceive the BESTMAP project’s output policy recommendations and seeks their suggestions to further refine and validate these recommendations.
Oscar’s interdisciplinary background and hands-on experience in both historical research and contemporary sustainability issues equip him with a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in agricultural sustainability. His work at RISE aims to bridge the gap between theoretical policy recommendations and practical, stakeholder-driven solutions to enhance the sustainability of EU agricultural practices.
Prof. Allan Buckwell
Emeritus Professor Allan Buckwell is the Director of RISE’s reports since 2012 on the following topics: crop protection, livestock, the Common Agricultural Policy, nutrient recovery and reuse and sustainable intensification. Two thirds of his career has been as an academic agricultural economist specialising in agricultural and rural policy. This has involved his work as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (since 2012), fourteen years at Newcastle University and then from 1984-1999 as Professor of Agricultural Economics, Wye College University of London (which was merged into Imperial College). During this period he specialised on teaching and research into all aspects of European rural policy dealing especially with the Common Agricultural Policy, trade issues, and technology and structural change in farming and its impacts.
During 1995/6 he was seconded to the analysis and conception unit of DG Agri in the European Commission where he chaired a policy integration group who laid out a model for the evolution of the CAP. He joined the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) as Policy Director in 2000.
Since then he has been involved in debates on how to balance the CAP as a policy for Food and Environmental Security. He chaired and authored a report on Public Goods from Private Land and worked a good deal on Climate Change, the threats and opportunities this poses to rural land managers and Green House Gas accounting from land-based businesses. His key specialist subjects are CAP, agriculture and environmental land management.