Our Team

Robert Bogers is a Board Member of the Rubicon Foundation. He studied chemistry and biology at Leiden University and has a PhD in mathematics and sciences from the same university. After having worked 11 years as a research scientist in molecular plant biology at Leiden University he worked two years in international science policy at the Dutch ministry of Education and Sciences before becoming director of the Bulb Research Centre in Lisse. Ten years later, in 1993, he became director of the research stations for floriculture and glasshouse vegetables in Aalsmeer and Naaldwijk. From 1999 to 2001 he was director of RIKILT, Wageningen UR’s Institute for Food Safety Research and from 2001 to 2006 director of Frontis – Wageningen International Nucleus for Strategic Expertise. From 1983 till now Robert Bogers has been active in the International Society for Horticultural Science; from 2002 to 2010 he was director of planning and finance and since 2010 he is an Honorary Member of this Society. During more than 30 years he has been involved in conservation issues in relation to exploitation of natural resources, in particular concerning the wild-bulb populations in Turkey. For many years he was an advisory member of the Dutch delegation to the CITES Plants Committee, with a keen eye on the long-term interests of both farmers and wildlife.
   
Arzu Erdem is a Board Member of the Rubicon Foundation. She received her B.Sc., M.Sc. (1985) and Ph.D. (1995) degrees in Architecture, from Istanbul Technical University. She is currently the Dean of School of Architecture at Abdullah Gül University in central Anatolia. She is still affiliated with Istanbul Technical University where she has coordinated/taught graduate and undergraduate level architectural design studios for the past 27 years. Her pedagogical research explores environments that support creative design process. She has designed several architectural projects and contributed to architectural design competitions. Her professional experience includes design consultancy and project management for public and private companies. She has been a visiting scholar at UCLA_Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning and a short term Postdoctoral Researcher at UC Berkeley School of Environmental Design. She served as an external examiner for architectural design studios both nationally and internationally. She currently serves on the Turkish  Selection Committee for Venice Architecture Biennale. She is also on the Curatorial Board of Mangiabarche Contemporary Art Gallery (Sardinia, Italy).
   
Rob Jongman is a Board Member of the Rubicon Foundation. He studied biology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen and specialised in ecology. He did his PhD at Wageningen University on landscape ecology and policy making in river systems. Until 2013  he was the leader of the Alterra team on Biodiversity and Policy. Since 1990 he developed the concept of ecological networks which has become a general policy approach included in national policies and in global biodiversity conventions;  to do this he was seconded to the European Centre for Nature Conservation (ECNC 1994-1997) setting up the Pan European Ecological network (PEEN-PEBLDS). At the same time, he continued with wetland research; from 1995 until 2008 he worked on modelling and assessment of river and wetland landscapes in the Orinoco (Venezuela), Pantanal and Amazon (Brazil).  He guided PhD students, in this field, from Europe, Latin America and China. His third field of expertise is biodiversity monitoring. He was one of the co-leads of GEO BON, the GEO task on biodiversity monitoring, setting up and linking approaches for in situ and remote sensed ecosystem monitoring including the initiation of Global Biodiversity Variables. In this capacity he also guides European research and monitoring on agro-biodiversity and High Nature Value farming systems.
   
Canan Orhun is a Board Member of the Rubicon Foundation since 2021. After serving as the Managing Director of the organization from its start in 2006 until 2021, she has accepted this new role with excitement. She has over 35 years of experience in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources - including NGO management, NGO institutional assessment and organizational capacity building; participatory approaches to solving environmental problems and conflicts. She worked as the Head of European Division at BirdLife International and was the Conservation Director of DHKD (former BirdLife and WWF in Turkey), prior to which she was a Programme Coordinator at the School For Field Studies. Her other expertise include: Cross-cultural communications; creating links between local-national-regional and international levels; corporate social responsibility (CSR) links with biodiversity conservation, strategic planning; team-building; and working with local communities. In 2016, after hearing about the health benefits of a plant-based diet, she immersed herself in learning about whole-food, plant-based nutrition. She received her Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition through the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell University, certified as a Professional Plant-Based Chef through Rouxbe Online Culinary School and she is a certified Food for Life Instructor with the Physicians Committee. In addition, she actively promotes the links between a healthy plant-based diet and the health of the planet. She believes despite the gloomy outlook with regards to Climate Change, if we can create a sea change in how nutrition and agriculture is viewed globally, we still have a “climate chance” and a brighter future.
   
Nicky Petkov is a Board Member of the Rubicon Foundation. He is Bulgarian by nationality. He has received his MSc. (1997) in Zoology and Anthropology at Sofia University and Ph.D. degree (2004) in Ecology and Ecosystem Conservation from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He has served on the board of BSPB/BirdLife Bulgaira as well as Conservation Director prior to joining Wetlands International in 2007 as Critical Sites Network Officer. Currently he works as Life project manager at the BSPB/BirdLife Bulgaria. Since joining BSPB/BirdLife Bulgaria in 1989 he has focused his work mostly on wetlands and waterbirds. He has experience in project planning, development and management for EU and other donors, organizational development and strategic planning, as well as species conservation planning. Has experience and interests in bird conservation and ornithological surveys on the Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasus countries. He is coordinator of AEWA Red-breasted Goose International Working Group and European Coordinator of IUCN Threatened Waterfowl Specialist Group. He is also a member of three other waterbird specialist groups of IUCN and national EBCC delegate for Bulgaria.
   
Szabolcs Nagy is the Managing Director of the Rubicon Foundation. Szabolcs is Hungarian and has a graduate degree in Agronomy and in Nature Conservation as well as a Ph.D. in Wildlife Management. Before joining the Rubicon Foundation in 2014, Szabolcs has worked as Conservation Director for MME/BirdLife Hungary, as European Conservation Manager for BirdLife International and as Senior Technical Officer, Programme Manager and then Head of Biodiversity and Ecological Networks for Wetlands International. He remains engaged with Wetlands International as a Senior Advisor for waterbird monitoring and flyway conservation issues. Szabolcs has a extensive experience with project and programme planning and network development.
   
Selçuk Ünver is the Webmaster of Rubicon Foundation since 2006. He has a degree from Trakya University Electronics Department.  He has many years of experience in internet programming and since 2012 he has his own company Creanet Biližim. He is passionate about nature and photography.
   
   

 


 
 
 

IPANET - Volunteer Network for the Important Plant Areas in Turkey

AEWA Conservation Status Report

Conserving wild plants and habitats for people in the South and East Mediterranean (IPA-Med)

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