Nicolae Istudor is the Rector of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, PhD. economist, academic, and researcher known for his significant contributions to the fields of agrarian economics and competitiveness. His expertise spans sustainable agricultural policies, economic development strategies, and education, where he has consistently advocated for the alignment of academic research with practical economic solutions. Recognized for his scholarly work and impactful leadership, Nicolae Istudor continues to influence economic thought and policy both in Romania and internationally.

Raluca Ignat, Professor, PhD, and Director of Department of Agrofood and Environmental Economics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies. She has a PhD degree in Economics since 2009, and in 2013 had the final dissertation of 28 months post-doctoral research in Environment and Quality of Life. In 2011 had a research sholarship al Univesity of Reading, Great Britain. She is author or co-author of books and books-chapters, as well as scientific papers published in different scintific journals. She was involved as team member or project manager in more than 28 research projects, all with public, national or European financing, and World Bank grants. Dr. Ignat main research area includes sustainable development, circular economy, rural economy, management and entrepreneurship in agrofood and agribusiness, resilience of entrepreneurship and business.

Raluca Mihaela Drăcea is Professor at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Faculty of Agri-Food and Environmental Economics. She has a degree in Banking Finance and since 2021 she has been habilitated in Economics at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. She is the author and co-author of several scientific papers and has participated in many national and international conferences. Her areas of interest are green finance, sustainable financing, business finance etc.

Marko Jeločnik, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate is the deputy director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics from Belgrade, Serbia. During his scientific-research work, he was (co)author at over the 150 scientific papers, mainly published in scientific journals. He is dominantly oriented to the field of agroeconomy, with special accent to investments in agriculture, economics of agriculture, or strategic planning in agriculture and rural communities. So far, he was involved in realization of over the 50 scientific and professional projects.

Carmen Lenuța Trică, Professor, Ph.D., is a graduate of the Faculty of Agrifood and Environmental Economics from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania. She teaches courses: Sustainable Development, Circular Management of Resources, Environmental Governance, Environmental Economics, Ecological impact assessment. The topic of the doctoral thesis was “Economic tools in the sustainable management of water resources” and, in 2023, she defended the habilitation thesis with the theme “Contributions regarding the evaluation of the impact of the circular economy on sustainable development in the context of global risks”. In the 25 years of research activity, she was involved, as a team member or director, in 32 research projects related to the circular economy, waste management, sustainable development.

Irina-Elena Petrescu is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Agri-Food and Environmental Economics, within the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, where she teaches Rural and Regional Development, Agri-Food Business Logistics, and Agri-Food Logistics Management at both undergraduate and master’s levels. Her academic career began in 2008 as a doctoral teaching assistant. She earned her PhD in 2012 with a thesis on integrating Romania’s agri-food system into the European Union’s agriculture. In 2015, she completed postdoctoral research on improving the financing of Romania’s agri-food sector through effective use of European funds. Over 17 years, she has been involved in 25 research projects (two as director, 23 as a member, including one international project). She has authored many books, book chapters, and ISI-indexed articles. Since 2016, she has also held administrative roles, serving as advisor to the rector and Director of the Rector’s Office.

Miruna MAZURENCU MARINESCU PELE is full professor, Ph.D., MBA of Statistics and Econometrics within Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Department of Statistics and Econometrics. She is also an MBA graduate of the Conservatoire National des Arts et des Metiers of Paris. Dr. Mazurencu Pele is a Fulbright grantee and a Romanian Academy of Science post-doctoral fellow. She is a local expert of World Bank, European Investment bank, FAO and PHARE and project director of several national and international projects. Her articles are published in various international and national journals. Her area of expertise is multidimensional analysis of economic phenomena, the econometric modelling of the ICT based businesses performance and their valuation as well as quantitative methods applied in regional science, smart cities, AI applications in social sciences.

Mihai Dinu is Associate professor and teaches Strategies and policies for rural development, Agri-food chains and Logistics of agri-food organizations at the Faculty of Agri-food and Environmental Economics, Bucharest University of Economic from Bucharest. He also has experience in regional development and agri-food trade. He participated in several Erasmus mobilities at the Universidad Católica De Valencia San Vicente Mártir, at the Department of Economics, Business and Marketing and at The Institute of Agricultural Economics Belgrad. Mr. Dinu conducted research in projects such as: ”Renewable plants integrated with pumped thermal energy storage for sustainable satisfaction of energy and agricultural needs of African communities”, ”Study on the evaluation of the economic, social and environmental impact of the swine breeding sector in Romania”, ”Joint Master’s Curriculum in Rural Community Development – RuralCOM” and ”TECH.FOOD Solutions and interventions for the technological transfer and the innovation of the agro-food sector in South East regions”.

Jonel Subić, Ph.D., Principal Research Fellow is the Director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics from Belgrade, Serbia. During his scientific-research work, he was (co)author at over the 250 scientific papers (including the 9 monographs), while over the 30 papers are published within the WoS journals. In his work, he is mainly turned to agroeconomy, with special accent to economic efficiency of investments, strategic planning in agriculture, or the economics of the use of new (clean) technologies in agriculture and rural development. He was involved in realization of over the 75 scientific and professional projects.

Marius Constantin is Assistant Professor in the Department of Agri-food and Environmental Economics at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. His research primarily focuses on agricultural economics, with a particular emphasis on competitiveness. He has participated in a best-practice sharing program at the University of Georgia, USA, focusing on the synergy among agri-environmental research, education, and extension—an initiative housed within the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences. Moreover, Marius Constantin has also been involved in various teaching and research missions at the Catholic University of Valencia “San Vicente Mártir”, University of Catania, and the Institute of Agricultural Economics in Belgrade. In recognition of his outstanding research activity, Marius Constantin has been honored with two awards at the Excellence Gala, an event organized by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies.