05 Sep Expanding European Engagement: Expert Roles, Pools and Communities since 2023
Since 2023, Kostas Karamarkos has progressively expanded his involvement in European expert roles, pools and professional communities addressing some of the European Union’s most important territorial transformation challenges.
The new engagements span Cohesion Policy, Just Transition, Smart Specialisation, climate adaptation, energy systems, sustainability and multi-level governance. Together, they reflect a growing contribution to European policy implementation, peer learning and tailored support for cities, regions and public authorities.
Recent European expert selections
In September 2026, Kostas Karamarkos was included in the European Environment Agency’s List of Remunerated Scientific Experts, following the evaluation of the relevant Call for Expressions of Interest.
In August 2026, he was approved as an expert in the MIP4Adapt Roster of Experts under the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. The roster supports European regions and local authorities in strengthening their climate resilience and accelerating the development and implementation of adaptation solutions.
Since April 2026, he has also participated in the DG REGIO S3 Community of Practice as an EU expert on Smart Specialisation governance and performance.
Partnership, innovation and energy transition
In June 2025, Kostas joined the European Community of Practice on Partnership, representing the Just Transition Institute Greece. The Community promotes effective application of the partnership principle in EU-funded policies and programmes.
Since February 2025, he has also participated in Working Group 5 of ETIP-SNET, focusing on innovation implementation in the business environment and the practical deployment of solutions supporting the energy transition.
In July 2024, he was selected for the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative pool of experts. The CCRI expert pool provides on-demand advisory services and mentoring to cities and regions working to accelerate their green and circular transition.
Supporting Just Transition and Cohesion Policy
The expansion of these European activities began in late 2023 with two roles directly connected to territorial transformation and Cohesion Policy.
Since November 2023, Kostas has participated in the European Commission’s Just Transition Peers initiative, contributing expertise to the development of assessment frameworks and methodologies supporting Just Transition Fund regions.
Since October 2023, he has also been involved as an expert in the Cohesion for Transitions Community of Practice under C4T Groundwork, which supports the implementation of sustainability transitions through Cohesion Policy.
These appointments, roster selections and memberships do not represent isolated titles. They form a connected field of European engagement linking policy design with practical implementation at city and regional level.
They also build upon more than three decades of professional experience in strategic planning, integrated urban and regional development, Smart Specialisation, Just Transition, sustainable energy, institutional capacity building and access to European funding.
