The official email of KNOCA is info@knoca.eu
Graham Smith
Chair of KNOCA | Management group
Graham Smith is Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster and Chair of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development. Graham is an international expert on climate assemblies and was recognised by Apolitical as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Academics in Government. He is the author of Can Democracy Safeguard the Future?

Alina Averchenkova
Management group
Alina Averchenkova is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and a visiting Senior Fellow at the Royal Elcano Institute. Alina is an international expert on climate governance and legislation. In KNOCA she focuses in particular on the role of climate assemblies in climate politics. Her past has experience includes international consultancy KPMG, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a carbon asset manager First Climate and the Environmental Defence Fund. Alina holds a PhD in Economics and International Development from the University of Bath.

Secretariat of KNOCA
Bjørn Bedsted
Management group
Bjørn Bedsted has an MA in Social Anthropology. He is Acting Director of The Danish Board of Technolgy and has led numerous technology assessment and public engagement projects in various technology and policy fields. He is an expert in citizen participation and responsible research and innovation.

Mark Hessellund Beanland
Management group
Mark Hessellund Beanland is a Senior Project Manager at The Danish Board of Technology. He has a background working in politics as a political advisor to the head of the political party, Alternativet. He is educated at the KaosPilots in Aarhus and is currently completing an HD in Organization and Leadership at Copenhagen School of Business. He is particularly interested in democratic innovation and participatory democracy and is a skilled process facilitator.

Stine Skot
Stine Skot has a Master of Arts and is Project Manager at The Danish Board of Technology. She is specialized in dramaturgy and experienced in engaging stakeholders and citizens in very different contexts.

Malte Frøslee Ibsen
Malte Frøslee Ibsen is a project manager at the Danish Board of Technology. He has a background in political science and political theory, where he has worked on democratic theory, populism, global justice, climate justice, and critical theory. He holds a PhD in political science from Goethe University Frankfurt and an MPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford. He is the author of A Critical Theory of Global Justice published by Oxford University Press in January 2023.

Morten Friis
Morten Friis is a Project Manager at the Danish Board of Technology. He has a Master in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen, with a minor in Psychology, and is specialized in democratic innovations and civic participation in the green transition.

ECF
Lise Deshautel
Management group
Lise Deshautel is a consultant on climate policies and citizen participation. She has previously served as an advisor to the French Climate Assembly’s governing committee and has spearheaded numerous legislative and political campaigns related to ecological transition in the EU and France. A graduate of Science Po Lyon with a master’s degree in political science and European affairs, she is currently based in Paris.

Erica Hope
Management group
Erica Hope is the Director for Climate Planning and Laws at the European Climate Foundation, and the initiator of KNOCA. She has an MA in Human Sciences from the University of Oxford and has worked on various aspects of climate policy since 2005.

Charlotte Billingham
Management group
Charlotte Billingham is Senior Associate for Climate Planning and Laws at the European Climate Foundation, joining the organisation in June 2021, at the same time as KNOCA was being launched. She has worked extensively on inclusive Just Transition policies and citizen’s engagement as well as analysis of political and democratic processes in relation to climate issues, she graduated in European Studies and French from the University of Leeds.
