Flavio Besana is a researcher and policy advisor with Italian and Spanish roots, interested in how territories and cities adapt to environmental and societal change. He holds a PhD in socio-economic geography and spatial planning and has worked across research, policy, and practice-oriented settings in Europe.

His work focuses on sea-level rise adaptation, with particular attention to governance, implementation challenges, and the transfer of knowledge between regions. Within PEERS, he has been involved in research on coastal adaptation practices in Northern and Atlantic Europe, engaging with practitioners and decision-makers through interviews, workshops, and webinars. This work explored concrete case studies, recurring bottlenecks, and policy-relevant lessons to support more effective and scalable adaptation approaches.

Previously he worked as a research consultant at Delft University of Technology on a project financed by the International Organization for Standardization, examining how existing sea-level rise adaptation measures could inform international standardisation efforts towards climate change adaptation. He is the main author of recent ISO publications on standardisation for sea-level rise adaptation, addressed to policymakers and the technical community.

As Regional Director for Europe at PEERS, he contributes to strengthening connections between coastal practitioners, researchers, and policymakers, and to supporting learning and exchange across European coastal regions, in dialogue with ongoing European adaptation initiatives.