Keynote speakers
Prof. Dr. Won Sop Shin is a leading expert in the field of forest therapy and human health. He currently holds a professorship in the Department of Forestry at Chungbuk National University (South Korea), where he also leads the Graduate Program in Forest Therapy. His academic work is grounded in over three decades of research, particularly focused on the psychological, physiological, and social effects of forests on human well-being.
Prof. Shin earned his Ph.D. in Forestry from the University of Toronto and is affiliated as an adjunct professor with the University of British Columbia. His interdisciplinary approach combines forest science, environmental psychology, and public health.
From 2013 to 2017, he served as Minister of the Korea Forest Service. During his tenure, he was instrumental in the institutional development of forest-based health infrastructure, initiating a national program that led to the establishment of more than 50 Forest Therapy Centers throughout South Korea. His policy innovations have since influenced forest health strategies in various countries.
Prof. Shin has contributed extensively to the global discourse on nature-based health interventions, and he regularly serves as a keynote speaker at international congresses. He is a founding member of several academic societies in the field of forest medicine and is recognized for bridging evidence-based research with policy implementation.
As keynote speaker for the Opening Ceremony of the 7th ISFT Congress, Prof. Shin will offer critical insights into the role of forest ecosystems in public health systems and highlight the potential of forest therapy as a formalized component of preventive medicine and environmental health policy.
Alex Gesse is the Executive Director of the Forest Therapy Hub and leads the Forest Therapy Institute Lab. Together with a multidisciplinary team, he has developed the FTHub Method, the LIM Model, and the 5 Components of Nature-Based Interventions—integrative approaches that combine scientific evidence on nature and health with traditional nature-connectedness practices.
He currently leads for FTHub’s NATURELAB, a European Union and UK -funded research project with a €6 million grant, focusing on the design, implementation, and validation of nature-based therapies.
Additionally, he co-leads PHorestAll, a European Union-funded research project with a €1 million grant, which explores the connection between forest health, biodiversity, and human well-being to identify “Healing Forests” and promote forests as nature-based solutions for global health and environmental challenges. Although both projects are funded by the European Union, they are being carried out in Europe, Asia, and America.
At FTHub, he also collaborates in other key initiatives such as FOREST4YOUTH, a European Union-funded research project with a €3.5 million grant, focused on forest-based health interventions aimed at youth.
Miguel Ribeiro holds a master’s degree in Management Control by the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, a degree in Tourism Management and Planning by the University of Aveiro and a post-graduation in Audit and Management Control at Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.
His professional course includes Fundão Turismo, E.M. and the Fundão Municipality, where he was producer of IMAGO – International Young Film and Video Festival and Head of Culture Division. He also worked at m|i|mo – museum of moving image, in Leiria, and later assumed the coordination of the Colective Efficiency Strategy PROVERE iNature over 10 years, centered on the development of Nature-based Tourism on protected areas on the Centro de Portugal region.
This led him to be later the Executive Director of Destinature – Agency for the Development of Nature Tourism.
In 2024, he assumed a new role as a consultant at INOVA+, a leading innovation consultancy company, ensuring the representation of the services portfolio of INOVA+ in the context of the regional ecosystem of innovation, entrepreneurship and development.
He is currently the coordinating researcher of the Biodiversa+ funded project PHorestAll – Planetary Health by Healing Forests as Nature-based Solution, along with partners from Portugal, Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania and Taiwan.
