Advisory Board
Advisory Board
Marc Vanacht
AG Business Consultants
St. Louis, USA
Marc Vanacht has dual citizenship, Belgium and USA, and currently lives in St. Louis, USA. In 2017, he was appointed by the Belgium and USA governments as Honorary Consul of Belgium for the State of Missouri, based in St. Louis. During following periods in his career, his work involved vineyards and wine production:
- 1979-81: Spain and Portugal.
- 1981-83: France.
- 1984-91: Europe. Weed control systems.
- 2005: Chile. Precision agriculture.
- Last 5 years: California & Washington. Precision Agriculture.
Key Responsibilities in the CERBERUS Project
Business and strategic aspects of advanced technologies in agriculture.
Key Responsibilities in the CERBERUS Project
Equipment automation Digital Agriculture Artificial Int. Precision Agriculture.
John F. Reid
Center for Digital Agriculture University of Illinois
Urbana (IL), USA
John F. Reid is a Research Professor in Computer Science and Agricultural & Biological Engineering, and Executive Director of the Center for Digital Agriculture. With 35+ years in academia and industry, he has led major advances in sensing, automation, and agricultural robotics. He spent 14 years at the University of Illinois and 19 at Deere & Company, where he helped build their field robotics and innovation programs, later serving as a John Deere Technical Fellow and VP of Enterprise Technologies at Brunswick.
He holds degrees from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M focused on computer-vision tractor guidance. His work has produced 30+ patents. His leadership roles include chairing the Innovation Research Interchange, serving on the Fraunhofer USA board, and membership in the Club of Bologna. He is an ASABE Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
He holds degrees from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M focused on computer-vision tractor guidance. His work has produced 30+ patents. His leadership roles include chairing the Innovation Research Interchange, serving on the Fraunhofer USA board, and membership in the Club of Bologna. He is an ASABE Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Key Responsibilities in the CERBERUS Project
Equipment automation Digital Agriculture Artificial Int. Precision Agriculture.
Lucia Zappalà
University of Catania
Catania, Italy
Lucia Zappalà (born in Catania, Italy, on 14/12/1974) is currently Full professor in General and Applied Entomology at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania (Italy) (from March 2020). In 2001 she got her PhD in Agricultural Entomology at University “Federico II” of Naples (Italy). In 2003 she was on a one-year post-doctoral grant at the Dept. of Entomology and Nematology – University of Florida. Since 2006 she has been research assistant, Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at the University of Catania. In March 2015 she was visiting professor at UC Berkeley (US).
Since 2008 she’s been teaching classes in various BSc and MSc courses. She is member of the teaching staff of the International PhD course in “Agricultural, Food and Environmental science”. She was Deputy Rector for International Relations from October 2019 to Septembre 2025. She was elected President of the Board of Directors of the European University Alliance EUNICE in 2024-2025.
Key Responsibilities in the CERBERUS Project
Plant Protection Pest Control Entomology Pesticides.
Key Responsibilities in the CERBERUS Project
Biosensors Pesticides Spray formulations Plant pathogens control.
Ester Segal
Technion Israel Institute of Technology
Haifa, Israel
Professor Ester Segal is a member of the Technion Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, where she heads the Laboratory of Multifunctional Nanomaterials, and serves as the Deputy Executive Vice President for Research. Her research is in the field of nano-biotechnology, interfacing nanomaterials science and biotechnology. With her unique experience in polymer science and biotechnology, Prof. Segal is involved in applicative research and industrial collaborations related to bio-functional polymer nanocomposites, such as antimicrobial surfaces. She has initiated and coordinated the EU-H2020 NanoPack Consortium, which raised 7.7 million Euros for developing antimicrobial packaging that could extend food shelf life and reduce food waste.
Key Responsibilities in the CERBERUS Project
Biosensors Pesticides Spray formulations Plant pathogens control.
Margaret J. Gold
Citizen Science Lab Universiteit Leiden
The Netherlands
Margaret Gold is a researcher and coordinator of the Citizen Science Lab at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the ‘Science of Citizen Science’ with a particular interest in Citizen Observatories and their long-term impacts on policy formation, environmental governance, social innovation, and behaviour change. Margaret has developed many approaches to creative collaboration, from Hack Days and ‘ThinkCamps’ to co-design and co-creation in Citizen Science initiatives.
In addition to running the Citizen Science Lab, which is both a knowledge hub and project incubator for Citizen Science, Margaret is also the Citizen Science coordinator within the Open Science Programme of Leiden University, and has helped to shape the national strategy for Citizen Science in the Netherlands via her work in the National Programme Open Science (NPOS). She currently acts as rapporteur and topic expert advisor to the European Commission for the Policy Support Facility Mutual Learning Exchange on Citizen Science, and is active in the global Citizen Science and Open Science Community of Practice.
In addition to running the Citizen Science Lab, which is both a knowledge hub and project incubator for Citizen Science, Margaret is also the Citizen Science coordinator within the Open Science Programme of Leiden University, and has helped to shape the national strategy for Citizen Science in the Netherlands via her work in the National Programme Open Science (NPOS). She currently acts as rapporteur and topic expert advisor to the European Commission for the Policy Support Facility Mutual Learning Exchange on Citizen Science, and is active in the global Citizen Science and Open Science Community of Practice.
Key Responsibilities in the CERBERUS Project
Citizen Science Co-creation Multiactor approach Enviromental monitoring.
