New members of the eLTER Head Office and General Executive Team

Anja Rabe

Anja has a Master’s degree in English and Business administration and has been working in project management for 20 years. From 2015 until 2024 she was employed at the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, first as a project assistant in the Department of International Relations and then as an assistant in Finance and Administration, with a focus on EU projects.

Anja is now the executive assistant at the eLTER Head Office in Leipzig, Germany, and will use her excellent organisational and planning skills for contact administration, archiving, and the coordination of meetings, as well as generally contributing to eLTER project planning and communication.

David López Herráez

Dr. David López Herráez is a natural scientist practised in the management and coordination of research projects. He combines a structured and service-oriented way of working with analytical thinking and organisational abilities. David is interested in driving investigation and technical innovation collaboratively with international teams, in building strategic networks of cooperation, and in the advancement of knowledge on the basis of scientific evidence.

As a new member of eLTER Head Office, David is responsible for the Interim Council (IC), which includes preparing and organising all IC meetings and communicating with ministry representatives from all member countries. In addition, he is Project Manager for the eLTER EnRich project from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

Nina Hobbhahn

Nina is a biologist by training, with a focus on pollination ecology. After a research career in India, Canada, and South Africa she moved on to international project management and worked for 5 years as a Scientific Policy Officer for projects and international academy networks advising the European Commission on scientific issues relevant to policy making. In November 2023 she joined the eLTER project as Liaison Officer in the Head Office at the UFZ in Leipzig, Germany. Nina’s responsibilities in eLTER include liaison with other projects, communication and outreach, Service Portfolio development, and general support to the operational and strategic development of the eLTER RI.

Katarina Sladakovic

Originally from Serbia, Katarina lived in Budapest for five years, prior to moving to Finland in 2019. With almost ten years of experience managing EU-funded projects, her role in eLTER PLUS is to support the coordinator University of Helsinki in financial and reporting tasks. As of June 2024, she will also take over some management tasks from PLUS Project Manager Terhi Rasilo during her parental leave. Before academia, Katarina worked for several years in consulting, advising clients on all EU project management-related issues. Katarina’s educational background is in EU policy making and sustainable business management, with several years of experience in knowledge management as well.

Paulina Rajewicz

Paulina's background lies in environmental protection engineering (studies in Poland, Spain, and Norway) and plant ecophysiology/optics of photosynthesis (Doctorate from the University of Helsinki, Finland). Transitioning into research coordination in 2023, Paulina took the role of focus group leader in Project Credible (Building momentum and trust to achieve credible soil carbon farming in the EU). Now, Paulina is joining eLTER as a coordinator for the Site and Platforms Forum – she will be facilitating networking and communication among research sites’ representatives. Additionally, she takes on the practical lead in organisingorganizing the first eLTER Science Conference (Tampere, 2025).