WHO IS BEHIND space4environment

Christopher Philipsen

Christopher, a distinguished professional, holds a Diploma in Applied Physical Geography from the University of Trier, specializing in geomorphology, remote sensing, and spatial data analysis. With over a decade of experience in processing and analyzing thematic and spatial data from diverse sources such as satellites, aerial sensors, and ground-based observations, he has adeptly applied these skills in his role as a geospatial data analyst across various environmental projects in Europe. Christopher has served as a key expert in data management, processing, analysis, and visualization for esteemed institutions, including the European Environment Agency, the European Commission, and national ministries, as part of European Topic Centres on different themes.

Since May 2025, Christopher has been at the helm of space4environment, co-leading the company alongside Co-CEO Manuel Löhnertz. His leadership spans administrative management, overseeing the IT department, maintaining databases, and managing processing infrastructures. Christopher leverages his extensive technical and thematic expertise to develop processing algorithms across various platforms and scripting languages, as well as to analyze data for multiple applications. His proficiency also extends to the visualization of data analyses and derived indicators, enhancing the interpretation and communication of complex information.

Stefan Kleeschulte

Stefan Kleeschulte is an accomplished physical geographer with 30 years of professional experience in environmental information and Earth Observation at the European level. His extensive work with the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Commission over the past two decades has endowed him with a profound understanding and comprehensive overview of European environmental policies, as well as the supporting data, its quality, and limitations. After being at the helm of space4environment for over a decade and demonstrating entrepreneurial leadership for 18 years, since 2025 Stefan now lends his vast expertise as a senior consultant to the organization.

He leads the EAGLE working group, a collective of national land monitoring experts, supporting the development of a second-generation European land monitoring framework, specifically the Copernicus CLC+ product suite. At space4environment, Stefan spearheads various national and international initiatives and projects related to Copernicus, ecosystem extent, service and condition accounting, Green Infrastructure, and Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF).

Marco Cattaneo

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Sara Pinto

Sara Pinto brings a robust academic background and a diverse skill set to the field of geospatial data analysis and environmental monitoring. Holding a Postgraduate Degree in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with a specialization in geospatial data science from Nova University of Lisbon, she is currently advancing her expertise by pursuing a Master’s degree in GIS. Her academic journey is complemented by a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Aveiro University, equipping her with a solid foundation in ecology, conservation, and land use analysis.

Sara possesses a strong technical proficiency in various industry-standard geospatial tools and is actively enhancing her programming skills to automate workflows and perform statistical analyses. At space4environment her dedication to contributing to pan-European land cover and land use data analysis underscores her commitment to applying geospatial technologies in an international context.

Manuel Löhnertz

Manuel is a seasoned spatial data analyst, holding a Diploma in Applied Environmental Sciences and boasting over a decade of experience in spatial data management, analysis, and big data processing. His expertise encompasses a range of technical skills, including proficiency in FME, SQL, IDL, R, and Python scripting, which he leverages for process automation and evaluation.
In his role at the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC BD), Manuel was pivotal in managing spatial data for critical data flows under CDDA, IAS, and Articles 12 and 17. He played a key role in developing and implementing INSPIRE-compliant enhancements to these data workflows.

Since May 2025, Manuel has been co-leading space4environment alongside Co-CEO Christopher Philipsen. His responsibilities span administrative duties, infrastructure maintenance, project acquisition, and data analysis. Manuel is instrumental in the validation, processing, storage, analysis, and publication of data flows. He develops FME scripts, manages MS-SQL databases, generates dimensions and data cubes on JEDI, and publishes Tableau projects and ArcGIS services and maps for reports and web publications. His comprehensive skill set and leadership significantly contribute to the strategic and operational success of the organization.

Karl Ruf

Karl holds a MS in environmental assessment and management with a major in conservation and restoration management and a BS in biogeographical analysis.

At space4environment his work is mainly focused on environmental and biodiversity research subjects in relation to ETC ULS and ETC BD activities addressing EU policies (CAP, BDS2020, BDS2030). Over the past years he has integrated Copernicus data and a variety of data sets from open-source databases as well as national and pan-European institutions including Art 12. and 17 data into his assessments.

As a data analyst by heart, he has a sound understanding of data analysis and visualization packages provided by R and Python.

At national level, Karl developed a GIS database and assessment methodology for disaster risk reduction in Luxembourg. Furthermore, he supported the identification of national reference regions for soil pollutants by geostatistical interpolation and analysis of soil sampling data.

Maria Ricci

Maria is a junior spatial data analyst with a M.Sc. in Geoinformatics. Her expertise encompasses various domains, including GIS, web mapping, machine learning, and statistics. She is proficient in Python, R, and web development stacks.
Before turning to the earth observation and geospatial sciences, she completed a Master's degree in Advanced Mathematics, where she specialised in algebraic geometry and numerical analysis.

In her current role at space4environment, Maria primarily focuses on statistical and spatial data analysis, data management, and machine learning. Within the FAIRiCube project, she leverages her programming and developement operations experience to derive machine learning-driven insights into urban adaptation to climate change. Additionally, she contributes to ETC DI activities aimed at enhancing Copernicus products and carbon mapping indicators.
At the national level, Maria has participated in the land use map update and is currently involved in developing a methodology for land price estimation.
She collaborates closely with other team members to optimize workflow organisation through the adoption of the latest technologies.

Brena Ferneda

Brena Ferneda holds a PhD in Agricultural Systems Engineering and specializes in Data Science and Analytics.

She is an agricultural engineer with expertise in research, geospatial data analysis, and agricultural applications. ​Her experience covers development of machine learning models, integrating agricultural, environmental and geospatial data, and creating dashboards contributing to risk mitigation in environmental and agriculture domains through satellite monitoring and technical reporting. ​
Her skills include meteorological data processing, geospatial data quality control, and remote sensing analysis using Sentinel-2 satellite data.​

At space4environment Brena is contributing to move forward the interaction between environmental and agricultural systems as well as improving the use of land cover and land use information.