Breaking the Walls

As a bioengineer (PhD), François Mayer works on implementing water management as a vector of resilience for cities. He initially worked in Wallonia, integrating these issues into territorial development strategies. He now works at Bruxelles Environnement, where he collaborates with various public space managers for sustainable stormwater management.

Johan Torfs has been leading critical infrastructure for transport, public services and logistics at Microsoft since 2019. He started at Microsoft in 2014 as head of data, AI and government in Belgium. Prior to Microsoft, Johan was an entrepreneur in IT and data center technologies.

Laurent holds a master's degree in management from Solvay (ULB) and in economics from the College of Europe. He began his career as a researcher for the Itinera Institute and spent ten years working for various organizations (C&W, KPMG, Friday Group) on Belgian economic policies. In 2017, he took over the family real estate business.

Suzannah obtained her master's degree in rehabilitation sciences and physiotherapy at KU Leuven (2017) and her master's degree in conflict and development (2018) at Ghent University with great distinction. In 2019, she started as a doctoral student at Sciensano, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent University. Her research focuses on the role of perceived environmental determinants in walking and eating behaviors among adults in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability.